Against her will

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AGAINST HER WILL.

Art thoa poor, yet hMt thou golden domben?

Oh svreet oontent I
Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed t

Oh punishment 1

Work apace, apace, apace, apaoe,
Honest labour bears a lovely face.

Dbeker.

Oar iDdlscration sometimes serves us well.
When our deep plots do pall ; and that shouli teach ns
There's a divinity that shapes our ends.
Bough-hew them how we wiU.

Hamlet.

AGAINST HEE WILL.

ANNIE L. WALKER,

ADTHOB OP 'A CANADIAN HBBOINJ!,'

kc.

m THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. L

#'

Cdec

■■'-' ^
IF/? •

-.^^s

■Eonton ;

SAMUEL TINSLEY,

10 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STEAND.

1877.

151 . e . S'S'.

AGAINST HER WILL.

CHAPTER I.

The parish schools . at Woodside werO"
"breaking up" for Christmas, and the
children were consuming tea and cake as
only school-children can. The scene was a
very long and comparatively narrow build-
ing, ordinarily divided by a movable parti-
tion into two school-rooms, but now thrown
into one for the better celebration of the
festivities.

On one side were two doors and six
windows ; on the other were eight windows.
At each end was a stove, defended by an
iron rail in guise of a fender. The doors
and window-frames were black; the walls

VOL. I, B

AGAINST HER WILL.

were white, diversified by finger-marks.
Every little square pane in the lattice
windows had a little sprig of holly stuck in
it, and on the end walls of the room were
hushy garlands of evergreen, which had
heen made to bloom out into turnip-like
blossoms of white, yellow, and red paper.
Tin sconces on the walls held plenty of
candles and more sprigs of holly, and all
down the space stretched the two long tables
at which the children feasted.

Boys and girls were, for the first time in
the history of the school, having tea toge-
ther ; and Mr. Burton, the schoolmaster, and
Mrs. Green, tb» mistress, regarded the inno-
vation with distrust, and a general tendency
to pounce upon any girl who might be sus-
pected of being ^'forward" under the cir-
cumstances. ^^ It was Miss Nora's doing,
and, of course, there was no help for it,"
Mrs. Green said; ^^but to say that I
:approved of turning my girls loose among
all those rough boys would be more than I
was anyways prepared to do."

There did not seem, however, to be any

AGAINST HER WILL.

particular cause for Mrs. Green's doubts.
Both boys and girls were deeply occupied
with the business of the time, and if for a
moment any of them had eyes and ears
disengaged from the sight of plum cake and
ihe clatter of milk-tins, was there not ^Hhe
quality'' to be looked at and listened to?
There were present four ladies and two
gentlemen, and five out of the six were
occupied in filling plates and cups, and
responding to the appeals of hungry eyes in
aU directions. The children, if they had
been forced to speak the truth, would have
owned that they liked to look at them better
than at each other; for looking at *Hhe
quality " had a faint, but perceptible, flavour
of the pleasure of being at a wild-beast
show.

Across the upper end of two long tables a
short one was placed, at each extremity of
which a pretty young lady filled from a
^eat urn the interminable succession of tin
mugs brought to her by the other volunteer
waiters. These two girls were Nora Darcy,
the Vicar's daughter, and Mariana, the

AGAINST HER WILL,

eldest child of ** Lawyer Bennett," one of
the chief parishioners.

Nora was the prettier of the two, but she
was also the best known, and by far the-
most at home in her present occupation^
She worked away quickly and methodi-
cally ; she saw an empty cup or plate at a
surprising distance; she stood and moved
with the air of a person who was thoroughly^
mistress of the situation; she called every^
boy and girl by their names, stopped an
incipient practical joke with good-humoured
but absolute authority, and managed to*
talk to her neighbours meantime with the
courtesy of an amiable hostess.

Miss Bennett, on the other hand, did her
work conscientiously, but she moved less
and talked less. She only knew some of the
children individually, and was a little shy
of those she did not know. Though she-
worked hard, she did not fill nearly so many
cujps as her vis-d-visj and her colour was not
steady, like Nora's, but flickered now and
then, especially when she was spoken to hy
one member of the party.

AGAINST HER WILL.

This was what observing youngsters
might have noticed in their own circle. If
ihey took the trouble to look as far as the
space at the upper end of the room, they
would be able to contrast dignified age with
the blooming youth of the two nymphs of
the urns. In the schoolmistress's chair sat
Mrs. Darcy, wrapped in a soft grey
shawl, and belying by her premature look
of age and her snow-white hair the
iifty years which were all she could really
•claim.

Everybody in Woodside knew that the
Vicar's vsdfe was "not strong." Many of
ihem could remember how it had formerly
been she who managed all such functions as
ihe present, and how a great sorrow had
«truck her down too effectually for any
thorough recovery. Still, she was well
a,cquainted with all the personages and all
the doings of the parish, and served as the
oracle to settle doubtful questions of all
kinds.

She sat still now, and did nothing; but
her soft bright eyes saw all that went on.

AGAINST HER WILL.

A small boy-j surreptitiously stuffing his
mouth full of cake that he might be ready
for another piece quite out of his turn^
caught those bright eyes fixed upon him
reprovingly, and choked with remorse and
shame.

Mrs. Bennett sometimes paused near the
Vicars wife, but most of the time kept
making leisurely journeys round the tables,
armed with plates of cake. She occupied
herself in serving the children, but she
never hurried ; indeed, her round and
matronly figure was not adapted for quick
motion.

Those at the lower end of the tables
might have fared ill if it had not been for
the gentleman who had the gift of making
Miss Mariana Bennett grow so prettily rosy.
He worked vigorously, cutting slices of
cake that might have fed Gog and Magog,.
piling .them on the plates, and carrying
them off to disappear in the further parts of
the room with the most marvellous quick-
ness. Mr. Forsyth was not so familiar an
object to the eyes of the Woodside children

AGAINST HER WILL,

as the rest of ^^ the quality," so they looked
at him with more interest.

"His Reverence" Mr. Darcy was not,
indeed, very familiar to any of them.
They saw him in church, but still he might
be classed among the lions — strange crea-
tures not native to these regions, nor, like
Miss Nora, of known ways and dispositions.
He stood generally near his wife, but with
an anxious and watchful air, as if waiting
for an opportunity to make himself of use,
and never able to see one. When he did
succeed in supplying some child with a slice
of cake or a fresli tin of tea, he did it with
such real enjoyment, and with so charming
a smile, that it seemed odd to see him
immediately return to the side of Mrs.
Darcy's chair, and stand there slowly
rubbing his thin white hands together,
instead of bestirring, himself to serve his
guests.

There is a point beyond which even boys
and girls, with the best intentions, cannot
go on eating cake ; it takes a long time and
a great deal of perseverance to arrive at it.

8 AGAINST HER WILL.

but it certainly exists, and was finally- and
happily reached at Woodside before the
supplies laid in under Miss Nora's manage-
mpnt came to an end. At length tea was
over ; the master and mistress placed them-
selves at the lower ends of the two tables, and
the children, rising, proceeded to sing grace.
It was an unsteady and slightly husky per-
formance, but, considering the late achieve-
ments of the musicians, it was much to their
credit that they managed to sing at all, and
everybody seemed to think so. A great
pushing away of forms instantly followed,
and, going to work with good will, the whole
party flung themselves upon tables, urns,
plates, and cans, and began to sweep the
remains of the feast out of sight into the
adjoining '^ Mistress's House."

Over the commotion, hqwever, Nora
Darcy reigned as she had done over the tea.
Her quick eyes saw, and her fresh young
voice, kindly imperious, checked every
misdirected effort ; her active hands did a
large share of the work. The elder people
kept together in a quiet corner. Alick

AGAINST HER WILL.

Forsyth and Mariana Bennett helped fitfully ;
but Nora and her army, officered by
Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Green, cleared and
carried off the tables, put the benches close
along the walls, and in five minutes had
made all the space of the long room avail-
able for the games which were now to
begin.

Then, above the clamour, not loud but
all-pervading, which had ariseil during the
clearing of the room, rose the authoritative
voice of the schoolmaster, —

" Silence ! " Every child stood still in-
stantly. *^Misa Darcy is going to speak to
you. Attend ! "

Miss Darcy stood a step or two in front of
the chairs occupied by the other gentlefolks,
and made her speech. Her voice did not
«eem to be raised above its ordinary pitch,
yet it sounded distinct and clear all over the
long room. In fact, she was no novice in
such public speaking, and knew by jDractice
how to modulate her tones for the occasion.
This was all she had tp say, —

" Boys and girls, you know that we have

lo AGAINST HER WILL.

generally had our Christmas tea and games
in two separate rooms. I thought you would
have more space and more fun if we removed
the partition, and let you all be together.
My father has kindly allowed me to have my
own way in the matter, and I trust to you to
show us that I have not made a mistake.
Girls, I want you to remember that you are
girls, and not boys ; and boys, I want you
to try to enjoy yourselves without being
too rough or too noisy,"

At the moment when Nora began to
speak, the door at the upper end of the
room opened, and four people came in
quietly. They stood together in a group
just inside the door, waiting till she had
done, and then moved forward. A friendly
greeting between them and the occupants of
the chairs was going on, while Nora, now
followed by Mariana, plunged in among the
crowd of children and began to arrange
games ; but she had been into every
comer, and had seen the " Mulberry Bush,''
"I wrote a Letter to my Love," and '^Himt
the Slipper " all going on vigorously.

AGAINST HER WILL. ii

before she had thought or leisure to speak
to them.

An old and a young man and two middle-
aged women made up this new addition ta
the quality. The old man was Mr, Norton,
of Dean's Hall, a bachelor, and the richest
parishioner of Woodside. The two ladies,
were his sisters, twins, and so like each,
other, that it was no small comfort to their
acquaintance that Mrs. Lansdowne was a
widow, and dressed as one, while her sister.
Miss Norton, liked bright colours. The
young man was Mrs. Lansdowne's son
Bertie, a soldier, and only a visitor at
Dean's Hall.

Nora went round the Mulberry Bush two
or three times, and then came back to the
top of the room. The elder people looked
at her complacently. They were fond of
her, and had a sense of proprietorship in
her which made it very agreeable to see
her bright, pretty, and clever. Captain
Bertie regarded her with a critical air, which
melted gradually into a mixture of admi-
ration and self-applause. After salutations.

12 AGAINST HER WILL,

had been exchanged, he posted himself by
her side,

"What an orator you are, Nora!" he said.
**I did not know you went in for being
strong-minded."

" I don't ; I don't ^ go in ' for anything :
I have not time."

She was keeping a keen look-out over the
sea of heads before lier, even while she spoke.

"It was a capital speech," he went on;
" short and to the purpose. I shall come
to you for lessons in elocution."

" Are you going to join in the games
to-night ? " she asked, paying no attention
to his compliments. " They like it, as I
dare say you remember ; and Mai4ana and
Mr. Fors)rth will."

" I remember. But what a long time it is
since I was at one of these teas ! Who is
Mr. Forsyth ? "

" Oh, don't you know? He is some sort of
a cousin of Mariana's, and they are engaged;
it's the last news in Woodside."

" That 's it, is it ? I thought there seemed
to be something of the kind going on. Yes,

AGAINST HER WILL. 13

I '11 play, if you like ; but they all seem ta
be occupied."

*^ They will be tired of these games pre-
sently, and then we shall have Blind Man's-
Buff. They like that best of all."

"All right, then. But are not you afraid
of getting your dress torn ? There are some^
pretty rough youngsters here."

" I never do get my dress torn. But, if
I did, it could not be helped. People must
do their work."

Symptoms of languor began to show them-
selves in the circle of children who occupied
the middle of the room. Nora was instantly
among them. The scene changed ; and, in
ten minutes more, a big boy was standing in
the centre of the room blindfolded, all the
rest in watchful grouj^s about him — the
bolder near, the more timid in distant
comers. The four young people, the school-
master, and schoolmistress were among the
players ; the elder ones were screened by a
barricade of benches, over which they good-^
humouredly regarded the gambols before
them. And now the fun was at its height.

o

14 AGAINST HER WILL.

Bertie Lansdowne was caught, and made a
tolerable blindman, making sudden swoops
lupon the small children, and then being
obliged to x^elease them because he did not
know their names. At last he caught Nora,
and, being by that time out of breath with
his exertions, retired behind the barricade
to watch her proceedings.

''How well Nora is looking!" his aunt
whispered to him, as he stood beside her.
He nodded ; and, twisting his moustache
between his thumb and finger, continued to
follow Nora's light figure about the room
with considerable admiration. She did not
swoop, nor grope awkwardly, nor seem at a
loss in any way. Swift and alert, she almost
seemed to choose her prey, and, in a minute
•or two, captured a very small boy, whose
head, covered with flaxen curls, she had no
.sooner touched than she named him
"Johnny Dawes," and instantly transferred
the bandage from her own eyes to his wide-
open blue ones.
c^ As she moved back to leave Johnny free

Tto commence his chase, she glanced towards

AGAINST HER WILL, 15

her father, and, catching his look, doubtful
and anxious as it always was when he felt
that something ought to be done which he
did not know how to do, she came up to
him. "Do you want me, papa?" she
asked. " Is there too much noise for you?"

Mr. Darcy held up his watch. " It is half-
past seven, my dear, and I think we agreed
that eight — "

" Yes, papa. Shall they leave off playing
in ten minutes ? I think that would be time
enough,"

" If you can manage it, my dear."

"Oh, yes; we will soon get them quiet
when you wish it. . Mother," she went on,
bending down over Mrs. Darcy's chair,
" don't you think our new plan has
answered ? "

" Yes, dear, perfectly."

" And you are not too tired with the noise
and heat ? "

" No. I only wished I could have helped
you."

*^Not a bit of need: we are so many to-
night."

i6 AGAINST HER WILL.

Nora continued to stand besidejier mother
until the ten minutes were over. Then she
moved quickly and skilfully through the
crowd, and spoke first to the master and
then to the mistress. Two of the biggest
boys she captured, telling them she wanted
them to help her. Again the master's
imperative " Silence ! " rang through the
room ; and the order was given, " Eange
yourselves on the benches round the room."

Meantime Nora's two aides had destroyed
the barricade ; and, placing the benches
which formed it side by side, had made of
them a table, into the middle of which they
lifted a large deal box, that had hitherto
stood in one comer out of the way. Nora
raised the lid. Mr. Darcy took his place
behind the box. The two boys retired to
their places, and a breathless silence spread
itself through the room. Now, indeed,
began the strongest, if the quietest, excite-
ment of the evening. For the deal box was
filled with prizes, each labelled, in Nora's
writing, with the name and merits of the
winner. Mr. Darcy took each prize from

AGAINST HE2^ WILL. 17

his daughter's hand, read the label, and pre-
sented it to the boy or girl, who, blushing
and bobbing, came up to receive it.

When the box was empty, the Vicar stood
for a moment silent and nervous. He was
going to speak, and did not feel that he had
made up his mind to it. He felt sure the
children would not understand him.
Nothing but a strong sense of duty kept
him from saying, ^' Nora, my dear, I wish
you would do it." After a perceptible
pause, he began, —

'^ It has always been my custom to say a
few words to you on occasions such as the
present. I have had much pleasure in
giving you your prizes, and in hearing from
Mr, Burton and Mrs. Green that they con-
sider the past year's work satisfactory. I
hope those who have got prizes this Christ-
mas will get them next, and that those who
have not will try to do better. We will
sing a carol, and then you can go home."

He stopped, in the same undecided
manner in which he had begun, and sat
down, looking and feeling much dissatisfied

VOL. I. c

i8 AGAINST HER WILL,

with himself. But he had no time for
regrets or amendments. The children stood
HID, and, with all the powers of healthy lungs
(no longer interfered with by cake), com-
menced "Hark! the herald angels sing."
Everybody joined except the Vicar, who
could not distinguish one note from another;
and Bertie Lansdowne, who was something
of a musical connoisseur, declared afterwards
that he found out on that occasion how the
soul may be stirred by music which is far
from satisfying the ear. The Evening Hymn
followed, and so little time was lost in all
this closing ceremonial that the church clock
tolled eight just as (having seen every child
start homeward) "the quality" came out of the
close atmosphere of the school-room into the
moon-lit stillness of the winter evening.

They came out into a stony little market-
place, where a few oil lamps, feebly flicker-
ing here and there, were unable to maintain
their dignity in presence of the cold, clear
light and black shadows which the moon
threw over their domain. There was frost
in the air, and the voices of some of the

AGAINST HER WILL. 19

•children were still audible, as, hurrying
away in company to their neighbouring
Tiamlet, they had taken up again the carol
they had sung —

'' Hark ! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born King."

Most of the houses were closely shuttered ;
but, here and there, a gleam from a shop-
window or an open door fell upon the rough
pavement. At the further end of the
market-place, where the inn stood, a man
was holding a horse and whistling to while
away the time. Hearing the children's
voices in the distance, his whistling fell into
the same tune, and accompanied them softly.
Opposite to the schools was the churchyard-
gate, and, beyond it, the green hillocks and
white tombstones gleamed in the silver light,
or lay deeply dark under the shadow of the
church. Above, towards the clear blue
depths, rose the slender and lofty spire,
seeming to touch the floor of heaven with
its top, and from the belfry the last deep
notes of the curfew were still vibrating in
the air.

20 AGAINST HER WILL.

The little procession came down the
school-stepsj and moved across to the church-
yard-gate in silence. They were all well
acquainted with the scene, but the surpassing
beauty of the night gave it a new and
solemn charm, and every one felt reluctant
to speak. Mr. Norton had offered his arm
to Mrs. Darcy, and they went first. Mr..
Darcy followed with the other elders. Then
came Mariana and her betrothed ; last of all^
Nora, dutifully attended by Ber.tie.

And now at last the Vicar's daughter had
time to look at her old playfellow, and ta
give him five minutes of her undivided
attention. He was a tall and rather hand-
some young fellow, not likely to fail in win-
ning a girl's good will, even if the girl had
not, like Nora, known him and been fond of
him all her life.

"How delightful it is to have you at
home!" she said to him, affectionately,,
after they had passed through the chm^ch-
yard gate.

"At last!" he answered, laughing. "I
thought you did not mean to say a word of

AGAINST HER WILL. 21

welcome, after I had taken so much trouble
to get here to-night."

" Why, you knew how nice we should all
think it. It seemed like old times ; at least,
it would have done, if you could have made
yourself a foot shorter, and a little less
like—"

"What?"

"Well, you know you are dreadfully
^ grown up.' It reminds me unpleasantly
that I am getting old myself, when I see
you so completely of the big world, instead
of our little one. And yet," she went on,
after a glance at him, " I don't believe the
change is more than skin-deep."

"I suppose one does change a little," he
^aid; "but you are over critical to-night.
At any rate, I am not changed in thinking
Woodside the best place, and Woodside
people the dearest people in the world.
Does that satisfy you?"

"Yes."

"And you, Nora, you arc changed, too;
for you are prettier than ever, and a perfect
little autocrat."

22 AGAINST HER WILL.

There was no time for her to answer, for
now, facing the west door of the church,
they reached the Vicarage gate. Down a
step from the churchyard into the garden,,
along a paved path always green and damp,,
and down another step at the entrance they
went, following Nora, who had slipped to-
the front.

The door, hospitably ^'on the latch, '^
admitted them into a small square hall,,
dimly lighted ; but they were scarcely
within it, when their guide threw open
another door at the back, and made way for
the guests to pass into a flood of warm and
glowing firelight.

The red radiance which flowed out inta
the hall to meet them, and which lit up
every corner of the Vicarage drawing-room,
was the only light there. The room was^
large, and in exquisite order; the carpet
very shabby; the furniture old, and well
used; the chintz, which covered the sofas.
and curtained the large bow window, was
as cheap as it was fresh and cheerful. Two
candles stood on the table ready for light-

AGAINST HER WILL. 23

ing, and two more on the mantelpiece.
Nora had lighted them before the whole
party had got into the room ; but still the
glorious fire held its own, and flashed upon
walls and ceiling with a splendid disdain of
rivals.

Everybody gathered round it. Nora took
their wraps from the visitors and disap-
peared with them, coming back in a
moment with a small kettle in one hand
and a large plate of muffins in the other.
Both the young men jumped up to her help,
but she passed them, saying, —

'^ Only let me put them down by the fire,
and then you shall manage them for me, if
you will."

Kettle and muffins placed at the proper
respective temperature, she dismissed Alick
Forsyth, and allowed Bertie to help her to
draw forward a table on which tea-things
were arranged in readiness. Then she
made the tea and poured it out, and every
one found that they were perfectly ready to
enjoy it.

Nora sat at her table, the labours of tea-

24 AGAINST HER WILL.

making nearly over, and looked with great
satisfaction at the circle round the fire.

"Papa is in good spirits," she thought,
'^ and mother does not look tired, or only a
very little bit ; and, by boiling the kettle in
this room, I did really manage to have
thoroughly good tea. I saw Mrs. Bennett
enjoyed it, and she is particular enough.
Mariana and her Alick look the picture of
content, and so does Mrs. Lansdowne. I am
so glad Bertie came. Christmas will be
ever so much nicer."

She gave Bertie a friendly glance as she
came to this conclusion, to which lie replied
by drawing his chair a little nearer to her,
and asking for another cup of tea. It was
not a romantic mode of expressing admira-
tion, but it was perfectly genuine, Captain
Ijansdowne not being much addicted to tea
in general. He asked for it simply because
ho was moved to speak to Nora, and did not
think of anything else to say. So she
poured it out for him, and he drank it,
reflecting meanwhile that, though he had
always known Nora was a very good girl

AGAINST HER WILL, 25

and a very jolly girl, he had never thought
her quite so nice as this evening ; and if it
would please the old people, and Nora had
no objection, perhaps the sooner she was
Mrs. Herbert Lansdowne the better.

He was still in the same mood when, at
ten o'clock, his mother declared it time to
go home, and all the visitors left the
Vicarage together. Nora and her father
went with them to the door; and, as she
came back, she said to her mother, —

'' Is not it nice to have Bertie back ? But
I wish Jones had sent over the flannel.'^

26 AGAINST HER WILL.

CHAPTER II.

When Nora's words reverted from Captain
Lansdowno to the Christmas dole of flannel
for the Woodside old women, her speech
represented very accurately the state of her
mind. She was unfeignedly glad of the
young man's coming ; but she would have
been, just at the moment, still more glad to
be relieved of a care, by knowing that the
dilatory Jones had executed his commission,
and that the old women ran no risk of being
disappointed of their petticoats.

Bertie Lansdowne, once the inseparable
companion of her brothers, all her life her
own good-natured friend and playfellow,
was a person of considerable importance in
her world. What always has been, we are apt

AGAINST HER WILL. 27

to think, always will be ; or, rather, we think
nothing about it, any more than we do o£
the succession of day and night. Nora would
have been very much surprised if Bertie had
shown any indifference to her society while
he was at Woodside ; as for what he might
do or feel when he was away, she had no
time to trouble herself about the matter.

'' People must do their work," she had
said to him ; and this was, in fact, the key-
note of her life. But neither Nora herself,
nor any of tliose about lier (except perhaps
her motlier), ever remarked that a girl of
twenty is not often called upon to do such
* work as fell to the willing hands of Mr.
Darcy s daughter. The Vicar was delicate,
sensitive, and helpless, very poor, and, thougli
learned, not very wise. His mind, which for
thirty years had rarely travelled beyond the
walls of his study, had gradually hardened
into a fossil. His body seemed to sympa-
thize with it, and was in a fair way to
become a fossil also — was, at any rate,
wholly incapable of active exertion. He
conducted the services of the church, and

28 AGAINST HER WILL,

.gave to his rural flock elegant and learned
sermons, some of whicli (if his hearers had
but known it) would not have disgraced
Jeremy Taylor ; he visited the sick in
■extremis^ and baptized, married, and buried
his flock whenever it was necessary. But
he did nothing more. Having discharged
■carefully and reverently these indispensable
■duties, he retired to the company of his ^
beloved books, and Nora became, de factOy
Vicar of Woodside.

Mrs. Darcy had formerly been her
husband's curate. Without ever having
possessed Nora's bodily strength and vigour,
-she had had an energetic will and an '
unfailing goodness, whicli made her very
useful and very dear to the parish. But a
terrible calamity falling upon her had
robbed her of health and almost of life.
Two boys, older than Nora, had been the
•delight of her eyes : in one summer both
were snatched from her. She watched the
<3lder, night and day, for weeks, until he died
in her arms ; scarcely a fortnight aftei'wards,
the younger, climbing a tree in the garden

AGAINST HER WILL. 29.

in her siglit, trusted to a decayed branch,
fell, and, striking his head upon a stone, lay
dead at her feet.

The mother lived through her sorrow,,
but lived a mere wreck of her former self.
At sixteen, Nora began to consider herself
the one member of the family who, being
healthy in body and mind, was required to
do what the others were incapable of. Mrs.
Darcy could no longer go about the parish ;
but she knew everybody in it, — she could
guide and advise. The two managed every-
thing ; but, as time went on, Nora added
head-work to hand-work, and Mrs. Darcy
had less and less of the burden to bear. Thus,
at twenty, Nora administered the parish, and
•administered also the household at the
Vicarage.

Hard task for a girl ! Hard indeed, keep-
ing evci^ faculty of mind and body in full
activity; but neither depressing nor dis-
tasteful. Body and mind throve under this
regime of practical, profitable work ; there
was not a girl in the parish or in the county
who enjoyed life more than Nora.

30 AGAINST HER WILL.

She was up by candlelight on the
morning after the school - feast ; for it was
Christmas-eve, and there was a busy day
before her. When she lifted her blind and
looked out, the first grey light of dawn
showed a snowy landscape. The mouldings
and buttresses of the church -tower were
marked out by lines of white; a shining
veil of snow-crystals lay over the roofs and
the churchyard grass ; on the black window-
frame, close to her hand, a little ridge of
erisp white flakes had gathered. '^ Snow
always seems seasonable at Christmas," she
said to herself, ' ' provided there is not too
much of it; and this has been only a shower.
I hope it will keep fine to-day." A glance
at the sky was reassuring. With a smile on
her face, she took up her candle, and went
softly downstairs. A roaring and crackling
sound, and flashes of light shining out into
the dark passages, showed her that the
kitchen fire was already alight. ^^ I can get
a warm there presently," she thought, and
opened a door near the foot of the stair-
case.

AGAINST HER WILL. 31

"Why, Joe," she cried, standing in the
doorway, " you are early to-day ! "

It was a small and rather shabby room,
with tables and shelves loaded, with all sorts
of heterogeneous bundles, but all lit up by a
flashing, crackling wood fire. This was just
being coaxed into absolute perfection by
somebody who knelt on the hearth-rug in
front of it, and who scrambled to his feet at
the sound of Nora's voice.

A rough head of reddish-yellow hair, a
lantern-jawed face of the same tint, a smock-
frock, and a pair of stick-like legs, covered
with grey stockings and ending in enor-
mous boots — this was what " Joe " pre-
sented to the eye. From some unknown
depths within this object, a sort of amiable
growl came to the ear.

" Iss, miss. I 've a bin makin' a fire a
bit early to-day. It wor a freezin' last
night, miss."

"It's cold enough this morning, anyhow,"
Nora said, coming to the fire, and holding
her benumbed fingers to the blaze. " Thank
you, Joe."

32 AGAINST HER WILL,

Joe ducked his yellow head with a
chuckle.

''You bin very welcome, miss. What bin I
to do next ? "

" Go and see if you can help Betty,
please. I should like you to get as much of
your work as possible done before breakfast,
that you may take out some of these parcels
for me afterwards."

'' Iss, miss. Bin I to go to Betty now ?"

'' Yes."

He turned to the door, and Nora to the
table. At tlie door he looked back
critically at the fire. ''Darn the thing!"
he growled to himself, ' ' it innot right
nohow"; and he came back to give it another
touch.

" Joe ! " said Nora, severely.

" Iss, miss."

"Have not I told you not to say that
word ? "

"Nor I did na go to say it, Miss Nora, I
do assure ye. I did mean as I would na
never let you hear it again."

" Oh, Joe, Joe ! I told you it was wrong

AGAINST HER WILL, 33

to say it — not that it was wrong to let me
hear it."

Joe got up from his knees again.

"He'll go now, miss, I reckon. • No, nor
I did na go for to let you hear me a-saying of
it nohow,'' he went on in guttural tones, a&
he retreated; and the door shut behind
him without any further admonition from
Nora.

She looked at her little old-fashioned
watch. "Half-past seven," she said ta
herself; and, sitting down at the table,
opened an account-book and plunged into
her work. She was very busy still when
the clock struck eight, but she instantly
closed her book, wiped her pen tidily, and,
leaving all in order, went out of the room.
She passed through the kitchen with a cheer-
ful " Is breakfast ready, Betty?" and, going
into the dining-room, found breakfast laid
indeed, but very far from being ready,
except according to the free interpretation of
the word which prevailed in this household.
Going to work briskly and methodically,
she cut delicate slices of bread, and toasted

VOL. I. D

34 AGAINST HER WILL.

them, made the tea, and was watching the
first babblings of the water in a little egg-
saucepan, when Mrs. Darcy came into the
room. The Vicar soon followed; they sat
down, and during breakfast whatever was
not yet settled of the day's plans was dis-
cussed and resolved upon.

Breakfast over, Nora's housekeeping must
be attended to. Betty was, indeed, a maid-
of -all-work comme il y en a peit; but neither
Betty's hands nor Betty's skill could suffice
for everything. Nora must arrange care-
fully the meals of the day, putting her more
delicate fingers, as well as her sharper per-
ceptions, at the service of those whose sickly
appetites she had to provide for. Nora
must herself dust and put in order the com-
fortable drawing-room — that room to which
«he and her mother both clung as the one
place in the gloomy old Vicarage which
was always bright and pleasant. Finally,
she must give a careful inspection to her
mother's and her own wardrobe, to see that
all was ready for this evening's dinner at
Dean's HalL

AGAINST HER WILL. 35

So much could not be done without a con-
siderable expenditure of time; and then
there were interruptions without end. Joe
had to be despatched in various directions.
Many women, old and young, coming to the
Vicarage for the regular Christmas gifts,
would have gone away wounded in their
self-esteem if they had not been allowed to
have their ^^bit of talk" with Miss Nora.
Miss Nora must see and admire the new
garments provided by the Clothing Club ;
Miss Nora must spare just five minutes to
hear her own particular Sunday-school
children sing their own particular Christmas
carol; and, let what would be done or
undone, Nora must spend an hour, at least,
in her father's study.

So the day flew by. There seemed to be
hardly time to think what busy hours they
were as they swept on, and brought the
winter twilight ; and the time of rest and
enjoyment came, welcome, but not one
moment too long deferred. Through the
istill, cold air a little procession started from
the Vicarage gate, moving out of the deep

36 AGAINST HER WILL.

shadows into the glimmering wliiteness of
the star-lit, snow-sprinkled churchyard, and
walking briskly, with a cheerful murmur of
talk, across to the road towards Dean's HalL
The party of four were not all walking, it
is true. Mrs. Darcy was seated in a queer
conveyance — a sort of poor relation to the
family of Batli chairs ; and, after being almost
smothered in wraps, was being pushed along
by Joe. The Vicar walked on one side of
the chair, Nora on the other ; and, while the
Vicar's slow and dreamy steps could hardly
be quickened to suit Joe's lumbering but
cheerful gait, Nora had some difficulty in
restraining hers to the necessary slowness.
After a day of work which would have half
killed a delicate woman, she was so untired,
so light of heart and spirit, that, but for
the unseemliness of it, she could have
danced along the broad, smooth paths to-
the music of her own singing. She
restrained herself with some difficulty,
but nevertheless was so apt to be a step
ahead, that Joe at last breathlessly re^
monstrated.

^^^ ■*■■ ^rf^

AGAINST HER WILL, 37

*^ Ye do be goin' so fast, miss, I ^m welly
beat."

"Don't wait for us, dear," Mrs. Darcy
•said; "the road is quite clear and quiet.
Eun on."

"No, no, mother, I am not going to leave
you. Don't hurry, Joe : I 'm sorry I forgot
I was walking so fast."

They had turned out of the churchyard
now, at a corner opposite to the market-
place, and were in a sandy lane, at the
bottom of which many lights, shining from
mullioned windows, showed a large house,
lit up from end to end in hospitable fashion.
The lane went down into a deep hollow,
and the chair had to be dragged laboriously
through soft and shifting sand. Then came
a slight rise, firmer ground, a turnpike-road
to cross, and Joe triumphantly drew his
mistress on to the smooth gravel and up to
the wide-open door of Dean's Hall.

Woodside was, indeed, a primitive region.
Who ever heard of a host and hostess
•elsewhere receiving their dinner guests
«at the hall-door ? Here, however, were

38 AGAINST HER WILL.

Mr. and Miss Norton, Mrs. Lansdowne
and Bertie, all utterly regardless of coldy
and, in the heartiness of their welcome,
ready to rush out the moment the wheels-
of Mrs. Darcy's chariot were heard. She,
indeed, needed somebody to help to release
her, for she was swathed as tightly as an
Italian baby. She was got out of her chair-
amidst much laughter, and brought in and
seated beside a huge fire, while Nora and
her father, in their turn, got rid of their
wraps.

'' Now, come into the parlour," said Mr*
Norton ; and, giving Mrs: Darcy his arm,,
headed the march.

There was no drawing-room at Dean's-
Hall. The room which would have been
called so elsewhere, but which Mr. Norton
preferred to call the parlour, opened from
the hall, and occupied the whole end of the
house. It was very large, therefore, and
was not over-lighted by the two great
windows looking south and west. Very
pleasant places were the deep and cushioned
seats in these windows, but at present they

AGAINST HER WILL. 39

were hidden by long and ample curtains
of crimson velvet. The walls were wains-
coted, but somebody had painted them
white, and gilded, in dead gold, the border
of grapes and vine-leaves carved just below
the ceiling. Mr. Norton grumbled at the
barbarism, but kept it up; only putting
up the curtains, and surrounding the old-
fashioned oval mirrors with crimson velvet,
and using the same rich colour for the backs
of the etageres which held his beloved china.
This, he said, made the room look warm
and comfortable, and was the only change
in it since his birth. The spindle-shanked
tables, the cumbrous but comfortable chairs,
even the brass fender and fire-irons, remained
as they had been left by a past generation.

This Christmas-eve the white walls, the
ruby-coloured draperies, the duskily shining
furniture, were all lit up by the most
cheerful of all artificial lights. A huge fire,
piled up of mingled coal and wood, filled
the room with its warmth and brilliance ;
these fires were indeed common to the neigh-
bourhood, and Woodside people were apt to

40 AGAINST HER WILL.

despise a mere coal-burning household as
being niggardly and inhospitable. Nora,
glowing from her walk, preferred to admire
the blaze from a distance ; her father and
mother drew near to it, and for a minute or
two a brisk talk went on about nothing.
Then the sound of another arrival was
heard, and part of the family rushed out,
while the others stayed to entertain the first
guests.

^^ We asked nobody but the Bennetts,"
Mrs. Lansdowne said to Mrs. Darcy, ^^and
of course that nice young Forsyth. The
Pritchards are away, you know, and Robert
thought it would be pleasanter not to have
anybody from a distance ; so I 'm afraid the
young people will hardly be able to have a
dance."

Bertie had been saying to Nora, ^^ My
uncle wanted to ask some people from Sun-
bury, but it seems a pity to break up old
habits, does not it? We never have had
anybody at our Christmas-eve dinners but
just ourselves."

He spoke rather sentimentally, and senti-

AGAINST HER WILL. 41

ment always amused Nora; but still she
agreed with the principle that strangers
ought not to be brought into these accus-
tomed festivals of la vie intime. ^^ It is
much nicer by ourselves," she answered
decidedly.

And then "the Bennetts" came in — a
portly Mr. Bennett, a comfortable Mrs.
Bennett, Mariana and her betrothed, and
her half-sister Clara, promoted for the first
time to the honour of dining out. The
party was now complete, though one-sided,
there being but five gentlemen, while there
were seven ladies ; but that was nothing
unusual in Woodside, and certainly nobody
regretted the absence of the possible " people
from Sunbury," who might liavc restored the
balance.

How narrow, gossipy, commonplace the
talk round the dinner-table would have
sounded to a critical outsider ; how plea-
sant, kindly, and restful it was to the
talkers! Of all the people present the
two young men alone were accustomed to
any larger sphere than this, and they per-

42 AGAINST HER WILL.

haps were bribed to enjoy themselves*
Alick Forsyth's frank, good-humoured face,
which even Mariana did not call handsome,
was enough of itself to have brightened up
his side of the table ; and Bertie Lansdownc,
sitting beside Nora at the opposite side, boro
clearly written on his the satisfaction pro-
duced by doing something which was at
once agreeable and meritorious.

What was rather odd about it was, how-
ever, that while Captain Lansdowne had
distinctly made uj) his mind to marry Miss
Darcy, and while he was, to his own con-
sciousness and to that of his mother and aunt,
paying willing court to licr with that end in
view, any stranger who might have merely
seen and heard the looks and words of the
two would have been quite as likely to take
them for brother and sister as for lovers.
There is generally about a courtship somo
kind of golden or rosy mist, some myste-
rious emanation which makes itself felt.
The proverbial lookers-on are not to bo
deceived ; very often they can safely guess
whether amusement or matrimony is the

AGAINST HER WILL. 43

proposed end of the game ; but in this case
they would have seen nothing. Nora and
Bertie had dined side by side at the Dean's
Hall dinner-table every Christmas-eve since
she was twelve years old, and every Christmas-
eve they had had a thousand things to say
to each other, and had said them with
abundant laughter and thorough enjoyment,
just as they were doing to-night. Quite far
on in the dinner something of this occurred
to Bertie. He had not thought of it before,
but it began to strike him now that, as ho
positively intended to propose to his old
playfellow in the course of the next week or
so, it would be proper to lead up to the great
question by a more suitor-like behaviour.
But somehow he could not begin to-night.
It would be delightful ' when they were
married, and settled down comfortably toge-
ther ; but how in the world was he to make
love to lier ? He believed she would laugh,
and was rather afraid he might too. The
thing must stand over, at any rate, for to-
night, and not be allowed to spoil their
Christmas-eve.

44 AGAINST HER WILL.

After dinner the whole party returned
together to the parlour. Four of the elders,
by-and-by, sat down to whist, but " for
love'* only. Mr. Darcy had a positive
objection to money, oven sixpences, being
lost or won at play. The young people
played Pope Joan, and Bertie won every-
thing, amid shouts* of derision from the rest.
Then the girls sang, and Mr. Norton brought
out his fiddle, and tempted them to take two
or three turns of a waltz, since no other
dancing was possible; and finally they all
sat round the fire, and told ghost-
stories.

Mrs. Bennett, Miss Norton, and Mr.
Forsyth each contributed a story, more or
less commonplace ; and the third had just
onded in general merriment, when Mr.
Darcy, who had been dreamily gazing at
the fire, startled everybody by saying,
** Your stories fail, because they want
foundation. Your ghosts have not sufficient
liaison d^Stre.^^

*^ What ghost has?" asked Mr. Bennett,
43ceptically.

AGAINST HER WILL, 45

*^ Most old, and very few recent ones,'^
Mr. Darcy answered, still quite grave.

^^ Your family must have a ghost," Mrs..
Lansdownc ventured to suggest.

Mrs. Darcy looked less placid than usual.
Her husband's family was one of her trials.

*^ Yes," he said, ^^the least awful one you
can fancy."

^* What is it ? " was asked on all sides.

^^ A little child — a boy of six years oldy
with long golden hair."

^^What a lovely ghost! Do tell us the
story."

Mr. Darcy 's face was no longer dreamyr
He sat upright in his chair, considered for a
moment, and then began, —

^^In the Wars of the Roses, my ancestor
of the period took the Lancastrian side. He
followed Queen Margaret's fortunes steadily
till they took her, and many Englishmen
with her, into exile. In 1465 the Earl wa&
in Burgundy, but his wife and children were
safe and flourishing in his castle of. Stan-
more. There were three children — the
young heir, who was the son of the EarP&

46 AGAINST HER WILL.

— - 1 - 1 - - ^^^^^^^-^^— ^^^^^^^^^-^

•

first wife, and a baby boy and girl, whose
mother was the reigning Countess. The
reason that this lady and her family were
undisturbed was that she had been brought
up in the household of the Duchess of Bed-
ford, and was protected by the Duchess's
daughter, who was soon after to be queen.
One day. Lady Stanmore, with her three
children about her, was standing on a
balcony overlooking the moat (the balcony
still exists, but the moat is now a flower-
garden), when the eldest boy, going too
near the low parapet, fell over and was taken
out of the moat quite dead. The Countess
was in great distress, and, while she was still
in deep mourning for her stepson, another
affliction came upon her. The Earl died in
Germany, and her own little son of course
succeeded to the earldom.

"But from that moment inexplicable
things began to happen. The little Earl,
placed in his father's seat in the great hall,
was gently but irresistibly drawn out of it ;
when his mother bade him go with her to
greet an important guest, he was firmly put

AGAINST HER WILL. 47

aBido; when she took him into a great
meeting of tenants and vasKals to present
him to them as their now lord, lie was so
strongly held back that she was obliged to
give up her intention; and, being questioned,
ho always said that a boy with long golden
hair held him back. The child showed no
fear of this new acquaintance ; on the con-
trary, he seemed to regard him as a friend.
But the servants talked of tlio dead heir, and
felt certain that, though tlic child was too
young to remember his brother, it was really
the poor little lord who came })ack to claim
his rights. The Countess would show no
fear, though she seemed to grow old and
anxious very fast. Gradually she left off
putting her child forward in any way, but
ho still spoke sometimes of the golden-haired
boy who came to him. One day, when the
young JKarl was six years old, he was at
play in the courtyard. The Countess wished
him to be early trained to manly ways and
amusements, and she had put him in what
«ho thought careful hands. She herself was
sitting at her window, which, like tho

48 AGAINST HER WILL.

balcony, had a view of the moat. Suddenly
she saw her child walking on the moat-side.
It was a dangerous path, mossy and smooth,
and overhanging the deep water. She called
hurriedly to her woman to fly to the little
one and bring him away, and leaning out of
her window she watched him in agony, not
daring to speak to him lest, hearing her, he
should lose his footing. But, as she watched,
there began to be visible two children
walking hand in hand. They were pre-
cisely of an age and size ; but the one who
led the way was dressed in white robes of a
strange fashion, and had long golden hair.
At the very spot where the balcony over-
hung the moat the pair stood still. The
golden-haired boy turned for a moment and
looked up at the Countess ; then he put his
arms round her son, and in a moment the
waters of the moat closed over them both."

Mr. Darcy paused. Everybody was listen-
ing breathless.

"And what became of the Countess?"
somebody asked.

" She died of grief and remorse very soon

AGAINST HER WILL. 49

after. But before she died she confessed
that she had pushed her stepson over the
parapet, and also described what she had
seen. And she left a prophecy."

^^Oh, what was it?"

" They say she left it ; at any rate it has
come partly true. She said that the
murdered child would appear before a
death in the family (which is common-
place, and cannot be proved to have hap-
pened) ; and she also said that for four
hundred years no Earl of Stanmore should '
be succeeded by his son."

" And has that been so ? "

*^ Yes ; there have always been brothers^
nephews, cousins — plenty of relations to
succeed, but never a son."

" Is the time up ? "

" Nearly. My cousin, the present Earl, i&
an old man — a widower and childless. His
brother, nearly as old as himself, died a
year or two ago. He left a son, John Darcy,
who is the heir, and the four hundred years
is so nearly up that Ms son, if he ever has
one, may have a chance."

VOL, I. E

so AGAINST HER WILL,

Mrs. Darcy was far too courteous to inter-
rupt her husband's talk, but she had been
for some time of opinion that they ought to
start homeward. She took the first good
opportunity, therefore, to say " Good night."
Everybody found out that it was much later
than they thought, and all the visitors started
•out together. As they stood on the door-
step the church clock pealed out twelve, and
hosts and guests wished each other a merry
Christnias before they parted.

AGAINST HER WILL. SI

CHAPTER III.

Nora's steps as she walked home were not
by any means so lively as they had
been a few hours before. Even she was
tired ; and she was thoughtful, too, wonder-
ing over her father's story. Not, indeed,
the story itself, but the strange thing of his
rousing himself and telling it; the still
stranger thing of its being as new to her as
to the rest of the party.

As a rule, Mr. Darcy never talked; but
the one exception to the rule was that in his
study alone with Nora he talked a great
deal. Many a quaint story taken from
books he had told her, and his younger days
had grown almost as familiar to her as to
himself. She knew Stanmore Castle, and
the very balcony whence the Countess had

S2 AGAINST HER WILL.

pushed her stepson; she knew the late
Earl, her father's grandfather, and the
present Earl and his brother in their boy-
hood; she could have described Greoffrey,
the Crusader, and Richard, the grey-haired
Royalist, who died in Oxford ; and her first
love had been the later Geoffrey, who
fought at Worcester; yet she had never
heard the family ghost-story till to-night.

Another thing that she wondered over
was why Mrs. Darcy looked uneasy during
the telling of the tale. Mrs. Darcy did not
like her husband's family. She thought
that they had behaved to him with out-
rageous injustice, and she would have
chosen never to hear them named. Nora
knew this, and, moreover, shared in her
mother's feeling (except as regarded past
generations); but she could not help be-
lieving that it was not because of her anti-
pathy to their relations that Mrs. Darcy had
been so much disturbed. It was queer alto-^
gether, and meditations on the subject kept,
her busy most of the way home.

Once there, however, she was soon in bed

AGAINST HER WILL, 53

:and asleep. For two or three hours she
slept as she had a right to do after her day's
work ; then suddenly, just as the clock was
striking three, she woke, perfectly and com-
pletely, and became aware that she had just
had a singularly vivid dream. She sat up
in bed, and, in the dense darkness of the
winter night, recalled her vision by way of
proving to herself that it was only a vision
of her sleep.

She had dreamed that she saw her father
sitting in his study among his books, while
she herself sat near him, writing out for
him an extract. She did not know what
book she was copying from, but the words
she was writing were,— ^^ Hsec ergo, caris-
sinii, sic audiamus, ut qui vivunt vivant;
qui mortui sunt, reviviscant . . . Nee ipse
-desperet; profundus mortuus est, sed altus
•est Christus. Ergo qui vivunt, vivant ; qui-
cumque mortui sunt, agant ut celeriter jam
resurgant."

As she copied this sentence, the study-
door opened silently. A little child, in a
curious white robe, over which floated long

54 AGAINST HER WILL.

golden hair, glided in, and, going up to Mr.
Darcy, took him by the hand, and drew him
gently out of the room. As the door closed
behind the two, the dream ended, and Nora
awoke.

For a minute or two she felt awe-struck..
The ghost-child had seemed so real, that the
healthiest set of nerves in the world might
well be a little disturbed. But a very short
indulgence was given to fancy.

*^ How stupid of me to dream such non-^
sense!" She said to herself, severely. ^^ I
wish papa had never put it into my
head. Come, I must go to sleep again
directly, or I shall not be up in the
morning."

Accordingly she went to sleep ; and whea
she next woke, Betty was giving audible
proof that the day had begun.

The church at Woodside was always well
filled on Christmas Day. Only one service
was held, but to that everybody came who*
could. Yet there were no wonderful devices
in evergreens, paper, or cotton-wool for the
congregation to admire; even flowers were

AGAINST HER WILL. 55

unknown, and perhaps would have been
considered Popish. But, to do honour to the
festival, plenty of holly was discreetly used.
In every window small sprigs were stuck
against the panes ; at every junction of the
neat oak-painted pews a larger piece, look-
ing very like a miniature currant-bush, was
cleverly fixed. The sockets of the great
chandelier each held a sprig of holly instead
of a candle, and a sort of faggot of the same
occupied the font.

As the first of the congregation began to
assemble on Christmas morning, the proud
author of all this splendour was always to be
found in the church porch, ready to be con-
gratulated and to exchange good wishes
with his neighbours.

^^A merry Christmas to ye. Muster
Brooks."

"A merry Christmas, neighbour. I've
bin a-looking round to see as all is as it
should be." This is a hint to the new-
comer to look round also.

" Well, that it is. Muster Brooks. And a
dale of trouble you must a took. Beautiful

S6 AGAINST HER WILL,

it is, and the bits o^ holly a-growing out of
the candlesticks quite natural."

Muster Brooks feels the praise to be plea-
sant, but just, and chuckles a little.

^^Ah, I mout know how to do it," he
says. " Five-and-forty year I Ve decked
the church. Why, these ere pews bin all
new sin^ I won here. There wonnot a bit of
flooring in the place, only in the gentlefolk's
seats, when I come, nor a place to put a
candle. Lord ! what with the pews and
the galleries, and with being whitewashed
three times, and with having clane white
glass put in the winders, it 's a different
place to what I knowed it. But I 've allers
put the green in just the same."

Nora had often had thoughts of what
might be done to improve the old church,
which, very beautiful externally, had been
so stripped and whitewashed within; but
money \^as wanted for any important
changes; and as to the mere question of
^^ greening," as the parish called it, it would
have broken Muster Brooks's heart to have
dethroned him. Mr. Darcy did not mind

AGAINST HER WILL. 57

— very likely did not see — the currant-
bushes, so Nora held her tongue and waited.

There had never been a brighter Christ-
mas Day, nor a fuller congregation, than
on the day after Mr. Darcy's unexpected
fit of story-telling. The Bennetts mustered
in such force that two of them overflowed
into the Vicarage seat, where Nora and her
mother were ; and Bertie Lansdowne, sitting
with the rest of the Dean's Hall party in
their big square pew opposite, had a good
opportunity of comparing Nora with the
blooming prettiness of Clara Bennett.

Nora had a new dress of violet merino,
and a bonnet to match, the colour being set
off by a trimming and mufF of swansdown.
The swansdown was truly goosedown, and
had cost nothing, except a good many hours
of Mrs. Darcy's willingly bestowed labour;
but nothing could have been more becoming,
and Captain Lansdowne distinctly said to
himself that he did not know a prettier girl
than Nora anywhere, nor half so good a one,
he added, by way of persuading himself that
that was her great charm.

58 AGAINST HER WILL.

Whether he was more impressed by her
goodness, or whether he was only more
charmed by her bright eyes on that par-
ticular morning than he had ever been
before, remained doubtful. One thing is.
certain, that, during the sermon, he seriously
took into consideration the question of his
asking her there and then to marry him, or
trying to smooth the way to his proposal
gradually. The grand difl&culty which had
presented itself the evening before was still
unsolved, and seemed insoluble ; in the case
of such a gordian knot, what could be done
better than to cut it ? About the time when
Mr. Darcy said, ^ ^ From all which considera-
tions we may conclude," it was being con-
cluded just below his pulpit that he should
be deprived, as quickly as possible, of his
daughter, curate, and secretary.

Captain Lansdovnie, however, could see
no chance of carrying out his designs upon
Nora without some little delav, and she was
fated to have the first hint of them there and
then. For, coming out of church, the two
families met, and stopped for a minute's

AGAINST HER WILL, S9

chat, and, as they partfed, Miss Norton
indulged herself in a short aside, addressed
to Mrs. Darcy. The dear old lady had her
head full of her pet scheme of marrying the
two young people, which scheme, sha
believed, she had nursed just to perfection.
^^How sweet Nora looks! "she whispered,
with unintentional distinctness. ^^ Bertie
could not take his eyes off her. I hope it
will be all settled directly."

Mrs. Darcy made no answer; and Nora
did not feel it necessary to give any token
of having heard; but she could not help
asking herself what was to be settled. After
all, the answer was not very far to seek;
and, after giving the subject as much
thought as she had time for while she took
off her out-door dress and prepared for
dinner, she found herself no way shocked
or distressed, or even confused, and went
downstairs smiling, and feeling quite as
affectionate as usual to Captain Bertie.

Dinner was always early at Woodside
Vicarage, except, perhaps, two or three
times a year, when guests had to be enter-

<>0 AGAINST HER WILL.

tained. On Sundays there was an afternoon
service, but not on Christmas Day. After
dinner, therefore, Mrs. Darcy, who always
required rest after a morning of exertion,
was comfortably tucked up on her sofa, and
Nora followed her father into his study.

^^ What shall I do, papa?"- she asked, in
her usual formula ; but added, " Why should
you work to-day ? "

^^ I shall not do much," he answered,
beginning to turn over his papers with his
nerveless white fingers. ^* There is a passage
of St. Jerome that I want for next Sunday,
and I looked in vain for it yesterday : per-
haps you could find it ; see, this is the sense
of it, as well as I remember."

He gave her a slip of paper, on which he
had written the quotation he wished her to
verify; and she, well drilled to the work,
took down a big volume, and commenced
her search. But Mr. Darcy did not, as usual,
drop into a deep abstraction over his
unfinished treatise on the ^ Life arid Labours
of Archbishop Lanfranc ' ; he sat down and
mended a pen, got up and searched for a

AGAINST HER WILL. 6i

book, and, fiually, went to the fire, and stood
warming his hands at it. Nora saw that he
was willing to talk, and she seized the oppor-
tunity.

^^Papa," she said, boldly, ^^ why did you
never tell me that story ? "

Her father did not need to ask what story;
his own thoughts supplied the blank of her
words. ^^ Rather, why did I tell it last
night? I ought to have remembered that
your mother cannot bear to hear of it. No
wonder ! " he added, with his dreamy eyes
looking sadly into the fire.

" Why, papa ? I should like to know."

" Well, Nora, you are a Darcy, and ought
to know your rights," the Vicar answered,
with a smile creeping over his face. " Who*
knows but you may see the ghost-child^
some day ? "

Nora opened her lips to say, " I dreamed of
him last night," but stopped herself for the
present.

^' I will tell you why I ought not to have
spoken of it to your mother," Mr. Darcy
went on. ^' Just six years ago, I came home

62 AGAINST HER WILL.

one evening about five o'clock. It was quite
<iark, and I went straight to the drawing-
Toom to find you all, and to get warm. Your
mother was not there ; but you three " (Mr.
Darcy's voice changed a little at that word)
^^were sitting at the table busy with some
^ame. I sat down by the fire and watched
you, and presently I saw a child in a white
robe and with long golden hair — ike child —
fitting between your brothers, with an arm
Tound each. The child's figure, even the
light on its hair, were as distinct as any other
object in the room ; but it seemed gradually
to melt away, and was gone. I told your
mother what I had seen, and she said the
warmth of the room had put me to sleep
And made me dream it. But that year was
the saddest of our lives."

The Vicar made an abrupt pause. Nora's
*eyes were full of tears for the unforgotten
loss and sorrow of that fatal year.

^^ Poor mother! " was all she said, and she
kept the story of her dreain to herself.

Mr. Darcy spoke again presently in the
ione of gentle authority in which he always

AGAINST HER WILL. 63

preached, and not unfrequently argued in
private. ^^To deny the existence of what
people call ghosts or revenants appears to
me to be an unwarrantable presumption.
Many persons of sound judgment have given
most distinct evidence as to apparitions
which they have themselves seen. Saul was
visited by the ghost of Samuel ; and there is,
to my mind, nothing conclusive against the
traditional evidence that many great fam-
ilies are warned of coming misfortune by
supernatural means."

Nora listened in silence. She could neither
contradict nor argue with her father. Her
inexperienced but practical mind was mucli
inclined to divide apparitions into three
classes — dreams, indigestion, and nerves.
She had not been four years mother-con-
fessor to all the old women in Woodside
without having encountered some of each
kind.

While all was still indoors, there suddenly
rose out of doors the sound of quaint, sweet
music. Two boys, whom nature (to make
amends, perhaps, for a niggardliness in other

64 AGAINST HER WILL,

gifts) had endowed with lovely voices, had
posted themselves outside the windows and
begun to sing. Well trained, these two might
have been the pride of a cathedral choir ; left
to themselves, they were the delight of their
native parish when they sang, and alas ! its
torment when they did not. Now they
began one of the sweetest and best known
of Carols, —

" God rest you merry gentlemen, •
Let nothing yon dismay ;
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day.*'

Nora moved to the window to listen better.
About the end of the second verse Mrs-
Darcy opened the study-door and came in.
She glanced round and said half apologeti-
cally, '' I thought I heard the children
singing."

Mr. Darcy drew a chair near the fire for
her, and she sat down. Nora pulled the
folds of her shawl more closely round her,
for this was a colder room than the other ;
then they all gave their attention to the
boys.

AGAINST HER WILL. 65

The first Carol was sung through, and
then a much liveKer tune succeeded, and
words to which the people of Woodside had
an obstinate attachment, —

*' As 1 sat on a sunny bank,

A sunny bank, a sonny bank,
As I sat on a sunny bank,

On Christmas Day in the morning.

" I saw two ships come sailing by.
Come sailing by, come sailing by,
I saw two ships come sailing by
On Christmas Day in the morning.

" And who do you think were in the ships.
Were in the ships, were in the ships %
And who do you think were in the ships.
But Joseph and his Lady !

'^ He did whistle, and she did sing,
And all the bells on earth did riug
For joy that Jesus Christ, our King,
Was bom that day in the morning ! "

Other singers came as the afternoon wore
on — ^bright-cheeked girls, shamefaced boys
more or less gruflF, and one wavering- voiced
old man who had been ^' a fine singer " in his
day. Each one, old and young, went away
with thanks and a huge mince pie ; and so
Christmas Day came cheerfully to an end.

VOL. I. F

^ AGAINST HER WILL.

CHAPTER IV.

Very often, in the years that followed, Nora
looked back to that particular Christmas
Day. It seemed to stand out in her memory
as some high landmark, bathed in sunshine,
does to the traveller, who, after passing it,
has gone down into the shadowy valleys.
Her existence was at that moment filled
with all that makes existence life. She had
work to do, capacity for doing it, and love
as its wages ; and, to crown all, she was
ignorant of what lay before her.

She had been for a moment startled by
her dream — for another moment when her
father had spoken of the ghost-child's visit
to the Vicarage; but the impression faded
quickly and naturally from a mind unused

AGAINST HER WILL, 67

to such ideas, and she went on her way
undisturbed. Of all gifts given to man,
surely few are more blessed than that igno-
rance of the future so often bewailed, and
which we try so vainly to pierce ; for who
among us would be strong enough for the
battle of life if he knew, beforehand,
the weight of the blows he should receive
in it?

Nora Darcy went about her work next
day, thinking nothing of impending evil,
but certainly thinking a little of impending
good. Bertie Lansdowne had put himself,
or been put, into a corner of her mind
where she found him every now and then
when she had leisure to look for him. That
particular corner had, about October and
November, been occupied by her new winter
dress : its present guest was more interesting,
though not more exciting. As for her heart,
her old playfellow had always had a place
there, a good warm one, next to her dead
brothers' ; and there he was likely to stay,
whatever happened.

He came to the Vicarage the morning

€8 AGAINST HER WILL,

after Christmas Day, but Nora was already
out, and was not coming in till dinner-time.
He asked Mrs. Darcy whether she was
likely to be going out again in the after-
noon. Mrs. Darcy thought not, but could
not be quite sure; and on the chance he
came again, looking rather embarrassed, and
bringing a book from his aunt as an excuse.
But Nora was gone to see a child, which
had fallen into a pot of boiling water, at the
further end of the village ; and he could
think of nothing better to do than to walk
that way in the hope of meeting her. As
he went along, he decided that he would
persuade her, on her way back, to make the
round through some fields, which would
finally bring them to the bottom of the
Vicarage garden ; and that, as they walked,
he would get everything comfortably settled.
He did not quite see why it was necessary
for him to ask Nora whether she would
marry him; he was quite sure that she
would, and that it would be no news to
her if he told her he wished it. He thought
the chief thing to be decided was, when she

AGAINST HER WILL. 69

could be ready. About that he foresaw
many diflSculties, and occupied himself in
planning how to get rid of them. It was
a most lovely afternoon, clear and still, and
bright with winter sunshine ; and Captain
Lansdowne, who had walked very fast from
Dean's Hall to the Vicarage, dropped into
a slower pace than he intended. The
result was that, before he had gone half
way, he saw Nora coming. When they
met, he said, " Come for a walk, Nora : I
want to talk to you."

But she was in a hurry. " I 'm afraid
I can't just now," she answered, ^^for I am
going in search of something for poor little
Polly Brown, who has managed to scald
herself dreadfully. I am so sorry."

She said the last words after a glance at
his face, and with a kind of mischievous
consciousness. It had suddenly darted into
her mind that he was thinkitig of "settling
it," and naturally she enjoyed his disap-
pointment.

They walked back together. The village
street was not a very good place for love-

70 AGAINST HER, WILL.

making, but still it was pretty quiet just at
that time, and Bertie began to think he
might as well speak here and now, and have
done with it. He looked round, saw that
nobody was within hearing, and began, —

"Nora, you won't always be able to go
on taking care of the parish in this
way."

"In what way?" she asked, half
laughing.

"Nursing all the sick children and old
women, and teaching in the schools, .and all
sorts of things. Don't you think it 's time
you began to do something else ? "

"No: there is nothing else for me to
do."

" You might leave your old women and
children," he went on, with a decided touch
of sentiment in his voice, "and come and
take care of — "

Just as the word "of" trembled on his
lips, a cottage-door close beside them flew
open, and out bounced a cat, spitting and
scolding furiously, and followed by a dog,
which, in the blind fury of its pursuit,

AGAINST HER WILL. 71

rushed up against Nora, and then flew
between her and Bertie, chased, in its turn,
by a woman, who flourished a broom, and
hit wildly at both the combatants, Nora,
almost upset by the dog, was obliged to
stand still to recover herself and to laugh ;
Bertie had to stand still too, but in a very
bad humour, for what could be more utterly
provoking than to be stopped in the midst of
a declaration by a cat and dog ? and, before
he felt able to forgive the brutes, their mis-
tress had recognized Nora, and was com-
pletely out of her depth in a flood of
excuses.

^*Lord bless you. Miss Nora, if I'd
knowed it was you, they mout a fought
inside. Ran right up against you, didn't he,
miss ? Drat the dog ! 1 11 make his bones
ache for it, if I catch him ! It 's all along of
my Mattey, as will have him about the
house. Won't you come in and sit down,
miss? Ah, dear me! men are a deal of
bother."

She might have gone on if Bertie, step-
ping forward into the light, had not startled

72 AGAINST HER WILL,

her into silence. The short beauty of the
afternoon had faded into dusky twilight,
and the road was only illumined now by the
broad gleam that shone out from the cottage
door. Mrs. Joyce, seeing a man's figure
appear in this gleam, stopped suddenly; and
Nora put in a quick " Good evening," and
turned away. Again she and Bertie were
alone on the road ; and now, if he could for-
get the cat and dog, he might speak. He
took a moment to consider how to begin.
"What do you think of Mrs. Joyce?'*
Nora asked. "It is a pity you showed
yourself just when you did, for you might
have been the better for hearing her
opinions."

" Awful nuisance ! " grumbled the unfor-
tuTiate Bertie. " I just wanted to ask you a
question."

"Nora, is that you?" asked the voice of
the Vicar out of the shadows on the oppo-
site side of the road; and Mr. Darcy,
coming up with his usual meditative step,
quietly fell into line with his daughter, and
added, —

AGAINST HER WILL, 73

" We will all go home together."

This, however, was too much for human
patience. Captain Lansdowne fled, saying,
rather crossly, that, now Nora had another
companion, he thought he had better hurry
back to Dean's Hall. Mr. Darcy asked if
he really would not come back to the Vicar-
age ; and Nora, as she shook hands with him,
could not resist saying, softly, to him, " Ah,
dear me ! men are a deal of bother ! "

Two people went home dissatisfied with
their afternoon's doings. Nora thought she
had been disagreeable to Bertie, and that,
as she certainly did know, and had known
that morning, what he wanted to say to her,
it would have been .more honest and less
missish to have given him an opportunity of
saying it. She confessed to herself that she
could have given him one earlier in the day,
if she had chosen.

Captain Lansdowne plainly called himself
a fool. He did not blame Nora; but he
thought fate and his own stupidity had con-
spired against him. He was the more
annoyed because he was going away from

74 AGAINST HER WILL.

Dean's Hall next day, to pay a visit at some
distance. " I will write to her," he
thought ; and he did actually begin a letter,
but it was never finished. " Well, it can't
be helped," he said. ^^ Better luck next
time."

AGAINST HER WILL. 75

CHAPTER V.

" So Bertie is gone ?" Mrs. Daroy said to
her daughter the next afternoon.

^^Yes; and the Pritchards are come
back."

"When?"

" Just now. They must have come to
Bridge End by the two o'clock train, for
Betty told me this moment that she had just
seen them drive up the street."

"Have they brought their niece with
them ? "

"Yes; at least, I suppose so, as Betty
says there was a lady with a thick black
veil on in the carriage beside Mrs.
Pritchard."

" Poor child ! You must try to make her

76 AGAINST HER WILL.

like Woodside, Nora. When will you go to
see her ? **

" On Monday, I think, mother. This is
Friday. We had better leave her one day
to get used to her new home, before dis-
turbing her. If it is fine on Monday, will
you come ? "

^^ Yes, to see Mrs. Pritchard. As for the
poor girl, she will be sure to care a great
deal more for a young visitor than an old
one."

' ^ I suppose she will be at church on
Sunday. I must say I like to have a look
at people before I am obliged to make their
acquaintance."

Nora had her look at Phoebe Pritchard
on Sunday, and went, with her mother, to
call on her on Monday. The two girls
were as unlike each other as a lovely nymph
in marble is unlike one of Sir Joshua's
English maidens. For regular, indisputable,
and delicate beauty, nothing like Phoebe
Pritchard had ever before been seen in
Wood side. The very rustics stared at her
open-mouthed. Even Mr. Darcy, who had

AGAINST HER WILL, 77

been something of a connoisseur in Hs
youth, happening to let his eyes fall upon
the exquisite face turned up towards him in
pensive attention, almost lost the thread of
his discourse, and was obliged to cough
several times before he could find his place
again. Nora could not quite decide whether
she was glad or sorry that so splendid a stfi.r
should have risen on her quiet world. She
put off her decision till the first visit should
be paid.

When Mrs. Darcy and her daughter were
shown into the drawing-room at the doctor's,
they were surprised to find Mrs. Pritchard
alone. She was delighted to see them, and
began at once to relate all that had happened
to herself and her husband during their fort-
night's absence.

They had found Mrs. Edward Pritchard,
Phoebe's mother, very near death ; and were
able to make her last hours easy by offering
to take charge of her daughter.

^^ And she is a very good child, dear Mrs.
Darcy," added Mrs. Pritchard, ^'and a very
pretty one, as you may see ; but what she is

78 AGAINST HER WILL,

to find to amuse herself with at Woodside I
really don't know. It 's quite an anxiety to
me already."

" She will be a nice companion for you/*
Mrs. Darcy suggested ; " and Nora wiU be
glad to do anything she can to make her feel
at home amongst us."

"Well, Nora, my dear," answered the
doctor's wife, rather dolefully, " I shall be
thankful if you will. As for her being a
companion to me, that is just the difficulty ;
for after having our house to ourselves for
thirty years, the doctor and I do not seem
to get on comfortably with anybody else in it.
We should like to make her happy, but we
don't seem to have the least idea how to do it."

"Is she at home?" Mrs. Darcy asked.
"Nora came expressly to see her."

" She is upstairs at her drawing or some-
thing. My dear, if you would not mind
going up to her, you two young people
could have your talk all to yourselves. We
have turned the blue room into a little
sitting-room for her. You know it ? Well,
she is there."

AGAINST HER WILL, 79

Nora went upstairs to the blue room
rather rehictantly, for she was afraid of not
being welcome. When she knocked, a soft
voice said, " Come in" ; and she opened the
door and saw Phoebe, who had supposed the
knock to be that of a servant, bending over
a table near the window, with drawing
materials all about her.

^^ May I come in. Miss Pritchard?" she
asked; and Phoebe, turning round, started
up in great confusion, stammering, " I beg
your pardon ; I thought — "

" Mrs. Pritchard sent me up. I am Nora
Darcy. I came to bid you welcome to
Woodside."

Nora was not very much at her ease, but
she was much less shy than Phoebe. After
a minute or two, they were both seated, and
getting through the ordinary questions and
answers with tolerable propriety.

Nora could not help casting curious glances
at the drawing which Phoebe had been
working at. It was almost entirely covered
by a paper, which was drawn over it ; but it
seemed to be flowers, as there . were some,

80 AGAINST HER WILL,

apparently models, in a glass on the
table.

^^Do you draw much?" she asked^ at
last.

" I have tried all I could to learn," Phoebe
answered. " I do not think I have very
much talent. I can do flowers best."

"May I see what you are doing just
now ? "

Phoebe lifted the paper, and turned her work
round for Nora's inspection. It was a water-
colour copy of a bunch of spring flowers,
which had bloomed before their time in
Dr. Pritchard's little greenhouse : there were
snowdrops and rich golden crocuses, very
gracefully and daintily grouped ; and the
work was marvellous in its correctness and
skilful execution. Nora, whose whole know-
ledge of art was derived from some few fine
water-colour sketches which Mr. Norton had
collected at Dean's Hall, thought it nothing
less than a work of genius ; and when she
was able to take her eyes from it, only did
so to regard its author with a respectful
admiration. . As a matter of fact, Phoebe

AGAINST HER WILL. 8i

was infinitely better worth looking at . than
her drawing. She was dressed in a soft
black stuff, which, though it was really
made in the most ordinary fashion, seemed
to fall in statuesque folds round a
figure, every line and curve of which was
perfect in grace. Against the dark garment
the soft, dimpled, delicate skin, fresh and
smooth as a baby's, looked its whitest, and
the little head showed all its beauty of form
under the coronet of red-gold hair that
crowned it. Phoebe's beauty was of a type
not then in fashion ; but it was so great, and
so charming, that it defied fashion. It was,
in some respects, the kind of beauty which,
now and then in the world's history, has
driven men mad; but since Phoebe was
really a good sort of girl, well and modestly
brought up, it was likely to do no great
harm in her possession.

Probably she had no idea how lovely she
was. She may, very likely, have thought as
Nora did, that the beauty she had read of in
books was something quite beyond hers ;
something which was never to be seen in

VOL. I. G

84 AGAINST HER WILL.

Phoebo, who had tho shallowest and most
mattor-of-fact brain ever assigned to any-
body not absolutely foolish, was innocently
posing as a young woman of talent; and Nora,
quick wittcd, keenly intelligent, dowered
richly with the rare mens sana in corpore
sanOy waSj metaphorically, meekly sitting at
her feet, dazzled by the glory of those
^^ accomplishments " which she, herself, had
had no chance of acquiring.

When Nora said good-bye to her new
acquaintance, Mrs. Darcy had been some time
gone home, and there was still a spare half-
hour ; so she turned to the left, instead of
the right, and in a minute found herself at
Mrs. Bennett's.

This house was as good a contrast as could
be desired to Dr. Pritchard's. Mr. Bennett had
had the luck, or skill, to marry two heiresses :
the first had left him some money, and a
comfortable provision to her only child,
Mariana ; the second had so much increased
the family income, that the rapid increase
of the family itself had been no cause of
embarrassment. Half-a-dozen red-cheeked,

AGAINST HER WILL. 85

restless boys and girls had left their marks
upon chintz and mahogany, but had no
way disturbed the plump comfortableness of
their mother, or the serene respectability of
their father. Nora, knowing the household,
was not surprised at walking into a perfect
Babel in Mrs. Bennett's drawing-room.

All the family were there, except its head.
Near the fire Mrs. Bennett sat knitting, her
eldest daughter, Clara, sitting on her foot-
stool, with her hands clasped round her
knees, and her cheeks burnt to a deep red.
Mariana was leaning on the back of her
stepmother's chair, and Alick Forsyth stood
facing them both. All four were deep in
talk.

But outside of this sedate group all was
noise and commotion. The two or three
big boys and girls, whom Mr. Bennett was
in the habit of calling the *^ Middle Ages,"
were occupied with a loud discussion,
enlivened by pinches, shrieks, and roars of
laughter. The three youngest had made a
stage-coach of chairs, and were noisily
going to London in it.

86 AGAINST HER WILL. .

Through the riot Nora made her slow
way, and had nearly reached the fireside
party before they saw her.

"Guess the news!" cried Clara, jumping
up.

"Oh, Nora, I'm so glad you're come!"
added Mariana.

" Just in time to hear all about it," said
Mrs. Bennett.

" Now we shall have a disinterested
opinion," remarked Mr. Forsyth.

"What has happened?" Nora naturally
asked.

" Let me tell her," said Alick, foreseeing
another trio. " I have had the offer of a
good appointment in Canada; and we are
going out there in spring."

"We?" repeated Nora. "Do you want
to take Mariana ?"

" Well, naturally I think, I do."

"Oh, Mariana, Mariana! and you want
to go?"

" Of course I wish it were nearer, but — "

" Oh, yes," cried Clara, indignant, " it 's
very well to wish that ; but you '11 go all the

AGAINST HER WILL. 87

same. I declare, AKck, I hate you, and
your horrid bank, too ! "

" Clara !" remonstrated her sister.

"I^m almost as bad as Clara," said Nora.
"It has taken my breath away, too, with
surprise. Have you only heard about it
to-day?"

"Only this afternoon. The letter was
forwarded to me here," Alick answered.
"In fact, I have not yet written to accept;
but I think I may go and do so now."

He looked at Mariana, but Mrs. Bennett
answered, —

" Of course you may, as far as Mariana
is concerned. . We shall miss her dreadfully,
and I dare say she tvill find it rather hard to
leave us all ; but she is ready to go, and we
are ready to bid her God speed."

Mariana leaned forward, put her arms
round her stepmother's neck, and kissed her.
Neither of the two were far from tears.
Alick and his future mother-in-law shook
hands upon their bargain; and he went
away to write his letter, leaving the women
to talk in freedom.

88 AGAINST HER WILL.

Nora's half-hour was soon consumed.
She reached the Vicarage punctual as the
clock, but with her head in a strange whirl.
The coming into her narrow circle of a girl
such as Phoebe Pritchard, who seemed to
her still more phenomenal in acquirements
than in beauty, and the passing out of it of
her dear and familiar friend into unknown
and shadowy regions, were tremendous
events. She longed to talk them over with
her mother, and so clear her own ideas on
the subject.

It was not, however, till quite late in the
evening that she had leisure for talk. She
had given Mrs. Darcy the mere fact of Alick
Forsyth's appointment with her cup of tea ;
and when at last the day's work was done,
she said something of her regrets.

" I shall feel dreadfully lost without her,
mother," she said. ^^Next to you, she has
always been my greatest friend, you know."

Mrs. Darcy thought of the possibility of
Nora being herself swept into a new world
soon, but she said nothing of that^ only, —

"You need not cease to be friends, dear."

J

AGAINST HER WILL. 89

"I ean't fancy what good a friend at the
other side of the world can be to one."

"A friend at the other side of the world
is much better than no friend," Mrs. Darcy
answered, smiling.

When every word of her mother's had
grown into a sacred memory with her,
Nora remembered this saying; now she
was scarcely inclined to agree with it.

"I wish you had seen Phoebe Pritchard,'^
she said. "I am so sorry for her. She
must be so dreadfully lonely."

^' Did she seem to feel it ? But she must,
poor child, at present."

" She was painting some flowers. I
never saw anything so lovely. Oh dear,
mammy, I wish I were not so stupid ! "

"Who told you you were stupid? Silly
child, you have both will and power to do
the work God has given you to do; and
that is cleverness enough for anybody. Be
content."

"I must have one other wish, then. I
wish Phoebe were going to be married
instead of Mariana."

92 AGAINST HER WILL.

ing the comfort of his own habitual lounge.
Nora moved about, drawing the curtains,
arranging the table, making tea, Nora, with
her bright grace and good humour, repre-
sented the Active ; Phoebe, with her delicate
hands crossed and her perfect profile turned
so as just to catch the best possible light upon
it, was a lovely impersonation of the Passive.
The Vicar was as well pleased as if some
marvellous marble goddess had been suddenly
added to the decorations of the homely
drawing-room; and his wife and daughter
saw that he was pleased, and liked Phoebe
the better for it.

At this very time, however, Phoebe's mind
was by no means so placid as her face. Mrs.
Darcy had occupied part of the time, before
either Nora or the Vicar came in, in satisfy-
ing the stranger's curiosity about the inhab-
itants of the little world of Woodside, into
which, by her uncle's adoption, she had been
so suddenly plunged. Having had several
visitors, and having also used her eyes at
church, Phoebe already knew a good many
of her new neighbours by sight. Her ques-

AGAINST HER WILL, 93

tions had drawn from Mrs. Darcy a good deal
about their circumstances and relationships ;
and she had heard of Mariana Bennett's
approaching marriage, and how much she
would be missed. Somehow, too, there had
reached her consciousness, though not from
any words of Mrs. Darcy, an idea that
Nora was not without an aspirant ; and, in
plain English, she was tormented with envy.
As she sat there, fair and calm, winning
golden opinions, she was far more wicked
than she had ever been in her life before ;
and she had a guilty feeling that, if the three
good people who surrounded her could have
looked into her mind, they would have been
shocked. Yet her mood was not, perhaps,
very unnatural. She had been brought up
by a mother who idolized her, and to whose
life she was the centre and paramount in-
terest ; by this mother she had been trained,
cultivated, forced^ as it were, with the idea of
being self-dependent. Suddenly she had
lost love, lost occupation, lost importance,
and the prospect of independence. She was
placed in a situation for which by nature she

94 AGAINST HER WILL.

was fitted, by culture unfitted, consigned to
a smooth, easy, silent life, and bidden to
content herself with being nothing and with
doing nothing. With her whole heart she
rebelled ; but her mother, at the last, had
thankfully resigned her to her uncle's
guardianship, and what way of escape was
there for her except tlirough marriage ? and,
for her, what chances of marriage at Wood-
side ?

So she thought, but kept her thoughts
carefully to herself. She was a girl to whom
sweet ways and words came naturally, more
out of a love of approbation than from any
higher spring of courtesy ; and she found the
Vicarage, even with her dissatisfaction, a
pleasanter place than her solitary sitting-
room at home. Tea was a real meal in
that unsophisticated village, and, when Nora
announced that it was ready, all four gathered
round the table sociably.

^^I called at Dean's Hall this afternoon,''
said Mr. Darcy, presently. ^^Mrs. Lansdowne
asked me to tell you that she is going away
for a week."

AGAINST HER WILL, 95

" Mrs. Lansdowne going away ! " repeated
Mrs^v Darcy .

'^ Well, that is news," added Nora. " She,
certainly has not left Dean's Hall for
years."

^^ Where is she going ? "

^' To the place where Bertie is staying.
He is going to remain there longer than he
intended, so she has been persuaded, she
says, to go after him."

" Then I suppose," said Mrs. Darcy, ^^ he
does not mean to come back here at all ? "

"Yes: there's a month of his leave yet;
and he is to bring liis mother home on — ^let
me see — to-morrow week, I think she said."

Nora was very much interested in this
information. She would have been sorry to
hear that Bertie was not coming back to
Woodside, and yet she was not altogether
sorry that there was a clear week between
her and a possibility of that question of his
being definitively asked and answered. She
considered the matter gravely in the shelter
of the urn.

Phoebe also listened with interest. This

96 AGAINST HER WILL.

" Bertie " was a personage who had not yet
appeared upon the stage. She had seen
Dean's Hall, and also the master and mis-
tresses of it, and understood their importance
in the parish. K "Bertie" were the heir,
he might be of some importance too. She
said, — "Is Mrs. Lansdowne the lady in a
widow's dress, who sat next to us in church
on Sunday ? "

"Yes," answered Mrs. Darcy; "and she
stays at home almost as obstinately as I do.
But Bertie — Captain Lansdowne — is her
only child; and I suppose she wants to
spend as much of liis leave as she can with
him."

" Miss Norton made a good suggestion,"
the Vicar remarked, putting an end to
Phoebe's inquiries. "She advises that you
should secure Miss Pritchard at once as
Mariana's successor in the Sunday-school."

Phoebe might have said quite truly that
she had neither taste nor talent for Sunday-
school teaching, but that would have been
to make herself disagreeable ; so, thinking
Miss Norton a very officious person, she

AGAINST HER WILL. 97

smiled amiably, and said she should be very
glad to do what she could.

When Pha3be was gone home, Nora had
her question ready.

"Well, mother, what do you think of
her ? "

"She is very pretty — beautiful, even.
Poor child ! "

" But I don't mean her looks; I mean her.
Don't you think she is very clever, very
accomplished — all sorts of things, and like a
young lady in a book ? "

" Indeed, she does not strike me as being
very clover ; about the ' all sorts of things ^
I don't know. She seems to me a simple,
good sort of girl, in a rather difficult position,
and missing her mother terribly."

" I am disappointed," Nora said. " I have
no doubt she is a good sort of girl, but I
thought she was a great deal more. She
will find Woodside dreadfully dull. I wish
Alick Forsyth would carry her off, instead of
Mariana."

" And what would Mariana say ? "

Phoebe did find Woodside dull. No one'
VOL. I. n

98 AGAINST HER WILL.

but horsolf knew how dreary and irksome
were the long hours she spent. If Mrs,
Pritchard had been hard and exacting, it
would not have been nearly so bad. The
being utterly left alone, without spur, with-
out sympathy, supplied with every means of
material comfort, but of no value to any-
body, this was a kind of slow torture which
could not by any possibility bo borne for
very long. While the first week or two
were dragging themselves by, Phoebe said
to herself, alternately, ^^ All my life is to be
like this " ; and ^^ If I could only escape ! "

At the end of three weeks she was in a
mood of utter despondency. Nora had not
boon able to be quite as kind as she had
intended, for there had been several sick
people to look after, and Mariana Bennett
wanted her whenever she had an hour to
spare. Thus Phoebe would have been left
to herself, if Mrs. Darcy liad not taken pity
on her, and bogged her to come and sit with
her at the Vicarage whenever she liked.
She came willingly, and had spent two
afternoons tliore when Nora was absent.

AGAINST HER WILL. 99

during which afternoons Mrs. Darcy had
arrived at a pretty clear idea of the girl's
character, if, indeed, a girl of seventeen has
a character.

What the Vicar's wife saw in Phoebe
moved her pity, but did not attract her
love. Under the sweet exterior there was a
feebleness and a moral dulness which did not
«peak well for the girl's future. Mrs. Darcy
made her discoveries, and kept her own
counsel; but she said to herself, ^^I thank
God that He has made Nora of stronger
stuff."

Two people at the Vicarage took a positive
dislike to Phoebe. These two were Betty
and Joe. Both of them held this creed as
firmly as the one they repeated in church,
perhaps merer firmly, — " I believe in Miss
Nora, who is the best, cleverest, and prettiest
young lady in England. Next to her, I
believe in Miss Bennett, who is a real nice-
Hpoken young lady, and knows what she is
about."

Betty, after her kitchen was tidied and
herself ^^ cleaned," in the afternoons, would

100 AGAINST HER WILL.

sometimes admit Joe to the honom: of a
gossip, Joe, on these occasions, generally
stood with his back against the wall, and
his long arms stretched up over his head.
Perhaps, as he stooped continually over his
work, this attitude rested him. Betty sat
with her knitting, almost always a long grey
stocking, near the fire, and when she was in
a very good humour, would grow quite con-
fidential.

When Dr. and Mrs. Pritchard brought
home their orphan niece, she was, of course,
discussed through the length and breadth of
Woodside ; and, when she had been two or
three times at the Vicarage, she naturally
attracted the ponderous criticisms of the
kitchen there.

^^ I dunna like her," said Betty, as she
shook out a length of grey stocking-leg, and
began to knit with sharp rhythmical clicks of
the needles. ^' She 's no more like our Miss
Nora than chalk is like cheese."

^*Lor! how should she?" growled Joe.
'^ She ain't got no manners, not as how as I
can see."

AGAINST HER WILL. loi

"Don't you be talking about manners,
Joe, for you Ve got none to spare yourself."

"Well, now, I just ax you," persisted
Joe, "do you think as Miss Nora would
a met anybody on New Year's-day and not
said, * Wish you a happy New Year '?"

" 0' course not."

"I was a-going to the doctor's, New
Year's morning," Joe went on, " and I met
her just a-coming out. So I looks at her,
and touches my cap ; and, as sure as you 're
alive, she never says nothing, — not a word.
Nor she's never said so much as ^Good
morning, Joe,' all the times as I 've met her
about here."

" She's a rare stuck-up piece," said Betty.

" She 's a good un to look at," Joe went
on, impartially, "for all she 's got red hair."

" ^ Favour is deceitful, and beauty is
vain,' " quoted Betty, with some scorn.

"Not but what Miss Nora's worth two of
her," added Joe ; at which Betty flourished
her knitting in wrath.

"Now you just hold your foolish tongue,
Joe Walters," she said. "To go evening

102 AGAINST HER WILL.^

Miss Nora to the likes of her I Don't you
know that Miss Nora's grandpapa was a
lord ? and she 's a real lady, every inch of
her. Miss Pritchard, indeed! You great
oaf, how should she be like Miss Nora ? If
you were not as blind as a bat, you might
see that she is just one of them half-and-half
ladies as has gat one way with 'em in the
parlour and another in the kitchen; and I
don't never want to see her in my kitchen,
nor to hear nothing about her."

Joe beat a retreat at this point, and wat:^
careful in future what he said.

^^'Tain't no affair of mine," he said ta
himself; ^^but I'd just as lieve she'd ga
back where she came from."

Meantime Alick Forsyth had left Wood-
side, and Mrs. Lansdowne and Bertie were
still with their friends at the other end of
the county. The preparation of Mariana's
outfit was the great interest among the
women. Her mother and sister had made
up their minds that the resources of Canada
were about equal to those of Central Africa,
and that she must carry out with her every-

AGAINST HER WILL, io3

thing she could possibly require for the two
years at the end of which she was to pay
England a visit ; accordingly they shopped,
shaped, and sewed with tremendous energy.
The shopping could only be done at Sun-
bury, eight miles off, and thither expeditions
were constantly being made. Nora was
carried off whenever it was possible, and
only once did she and Phoebe spend any
time .together.

One day the two girls walked together to
a farm some distance from the village. The
glamour of Phoebe's beauty and accomplish-
ments was still strong upon Nora, and she
was ready to give her full sympathy to
whatever Phoebe should say of her lonely
position. They talked, however, chiefly of
the bride elect and her departure, and only
one saying called for Nora's compassion.

^^ It is a pity she should have to leave her
people,'' said Phoebe; ^^yot I cannot help
envying her. It is so sad to have nobody
who wants you."

104 AGAINST HER WILL.

CHAPTER VII.

On the day of Nora and Phoebe's walk to
the Hill Farm, Mrs. Lansdowne and Bertie
came home to Dean's Hall. They had been
staying at a pleasant house, full of young
people, among whom were some very
pretty girls ; but Bertie's allegiance to Nora
had not been shaken, — he came home
resolved that he would be accepted (he had
very little thought of any other possibility)
before another forty-eight hours should have
passed.

The following afternoon, therefore, he
walked down to the Vicarage.* He hardly
expected to find Nora at home; but he
meant to discover where she had gone, and
either to try once more the plan of an out-

AGAINST HER WILL. 105

of-door tHe-d-tHe^ or to manage to spend the
evening with her, as might seem most pro-
mising. But he had no more idea of the
form in which liis fate was waiting for
him than of what is to happen next
century.

He had never in his life used the cere-
mony of knocking at the Vicarage door.
He walked in as usual, and crossed the hall
to the drawing-room. There ho tapped
lightly, and Mrs. Darcy bade him " Come

in."

At that moment Nora was a mile away,
and Phoebe Pritchard was at the Vicarage.
She had brought that flower-painting which
•Nora had admired, intending to offer it to
her as a gift ; and, at the moment of Captain
Lansdowne's entrance, she was standing
holding it for Mrs. Darcy's inspection. She
stood just within the great bow of the
window, and all round her a flood of level
sunlight poured in from the west. This
illumination, dangerous to an older beauty,
glorified her. The sombre colour of her dress
was brightened, while tlio pure outline,

I06 AGAINST HER WILL.

the exquisite tint and texture of skin, the
golden gleam of hair, made her look

'^ A splendid angel newly drest.
Save wings, for heaven."

This was the picture which Bertie Lans-
downe, coming out of the twilight hall, found
before his astonished eyes.

He came into the room like a man
dazzled. The actual brightness of the set-
ting sun had something to do with this, but
still more the angelic vision. He had not
seen Phoebe before, and as she stepped aside,
and when. Mrs. Darcy introduced them to
each other, he had an odd feeling as if the
girl whom he saw there in flesh and blood
was not the personage of his momentary
vision, but a sort of residuum only of it.

He sat down, as he had intended doing,
and also, just as he had intended, asked for
Nora: he said he would go out and meet
her, and he said to himself that he would
not be stopped by a cat and dog this time ;
and all the while he never suspected that
these words and thoughts were but the

AGAINST HER WILL. 107

result of previous momentum, and that the
vision he had seen standing in the sunlight
had come between him and Nora for ever.

He sat down beside Mrs. Darcy; and
Phoebe had shyly dropped into a chair on
the other side. Mrs. Darcy had many
questions to ask about Mrs. Lansdowne and
the doings of the last fortnight. While
Bertie answered them, his eyes were gradu-
ally assuring him that Phoebe only required
to step forward again to reproduce the
picture he had seen. The more he per-
ceived this, the more interesting he found
the investigation. Always intending to go,
ho stayed where he was. Half an hour had
passed, and the sun had entirely disappeared,
when he was reminded of the flight of time
by Phoebe herself, who began fastening on
her wraps, and preparing to say good-
bye.

^^ You will not meet Nora now," said
Mrs. Darcy ; *^ or rather you will meet her
at the gate. You had better stay, if you
have nothing particular to do at home ; and
you too, Phoebe, you had much better stay

108 AGAINST HER WILL,

1 1 . ^ ■■ _ — — - - ~ "

for tea, and give Nora your pretty present
yourself."

Blind mother! It was in this way that
the last hope of that desired marriage was
destroyed. Mrs. Darcy never thought for a
moment of the mischief she was doing. In
her simple mindedness it never occurred to
her that Nora could suffer by a comparison
with anybody ; but also, probably, if it had
occurred to her, she would have said, " Any
man who could prefer Phoebe to Nora is
much fitter for Phoebe than for Nora : let
her have him."

And she would have been altogether
wrong. Very likely the Sirens made an
end of many men who were quite as good
as Ulysses, only not quite so cunning.
Amor vincit omnia — including common
sense, which is apt to re-assert itself later —
sometimes too late.

Nora came in by-and-by. She was
pleased to find Bertie there, and delighted
with Phoebe's present. Her afternoon's walk
had been satisfactory, and she was looking
and feeling her best. As the four sat round

AGAINST HER WILL, 109

the fire, waiting for the Vicar, she thought it
would be hard to be happier, and that all she
wished was that time and circumstances
would just stand still, and not hurry her on
out of the known into any unknown^
however tempting.

Mrs. Darcy, too, in her silent thoughts,
was conscious of a holding fast to the
present. It made her very happy to think
of Nora's assured and easy future as Bertie's
wife. This prospect relieved her of a dread,
which had sometimes beset her, of her child
ever being in any way a dependent upon the
Darcy family. Still, Nora once married
would be far less her own than now ; she
would be gone, and a most dreary blank left
behind her. Now^ therefore, was dear to the
mother as well as the daughter.'

As on the previous evening when they
had sat together, Phoebe's thoughts were
very unlike those of her neighbours. She
had then envied Nora vaguely ; now she envied
her distinctly. She had easily identified
Captain Lansdowne with that lover of whom
she had had some previous intimation, and

no AGAINST HER WILL.

she had so far enlarged her acquaintance
with the politics of Woodside as to know that
he was an excellent match for the Vicar's
daughter. But Phoebe's nature could not
rise to the generosity of being glad of a
friend's good fortune, unless it were equalled
by her own. " If he were not fond of her,
there might be a chance for me," she
thought; "and I have much more need to
be married than she has." Bertie Lansdowne
was, to her, simply ^^un jeune homme d
maner^^^ therefore a desirable property,
a means of release from discomfort, a
possible guide into a more congenial life. To
do her justice, she simply repined ; she had
no thought of trying to rob Nora. The
whole evening passed without it having
occurred to her that Nora could be robbed.

And yet the evening passed, and Bertie
said nothing to Nora of the subject which
had really brought him to the Vicarage. If
he had been very much in earnest, it would
have been possible enough ; but he was in no
hurry. Nora seemed to have been pushed
from her usual place in the foreground, and

AGAINST HER WILL. \i^

PhcBbe to have glided forward into it. He
was very well content to sit and look at the
beautiful stranger — so content that he did
not care just then to do anything else. He
thought it rather a bore when, after the Vicar
had gone back to his study, Nora asked her
guest to sing, and so deranged the graceful
pose which she had been offering for his
admiration. ^^ Nobody looks well at the
piano," he was inclined to say ; but Phoebe
did look well, perhaps because it was im-
possible for her to look anything else, and
he was obliged to confess that she sang well,
having been carefully drilled in that, as in
all else.

She sang in obedience to Mrs. Darcy's
selection, and consequently the songs were
old ones — ^bits of Haydn, Cherubini's ^ Ave
Maria,' and then, from an old book of copied
songs, a very quaint, pathetic setting of
Desdemona's song —

** A poor soul sat sighing."

Nobody could admire Phoebe's music more
than Nora did, yet it was while Phoebe sang

112 AGAINST HER WILL.

that a very curious and not pleasant idea
made its way into Nora's mind. She
thought, ^^ What is the matter with Bertie ?
He is somehow unlike himself to-night. I
could almost say, as Joe does sometimes,
^ He looks mazed, like ' ; and I am sure he
never was so silent in his life before, here at
least. Is it Phoebe ? He can be rather
disagreeable now and then, when he does
not like people ; but he does not look as if
he did not like her, — rather the contrary, I
think. He admires her, I am certain, as
he must do. But something is wrong.
Perhaps, if she were not here, he would
tell us."

No light broke on her puzzled thoughts.
A little before ten o'clock Phoebe went home,
and Captain Lansdowne could not do less
than escort her. When they were gone away
together, Nora could not help wishing Bertie
had not been quite so civil. She would have
liked to keep him for five minutes, and get
the secret of what ailed him, little thinking
that he was as much in the dark on that
subject as herself.

AGAINST HER WILL, 113

He, for his part, conducted Phoebe to her
uncle's door, bade her good-night, and went
home to Dean's Hall utterly unconscious of
the fact that he had deserted his old love
and already entangled himself pretty deeply
in the toils of a new one.

Nora, however, might think what she
liked ; her work would not stand still for her
meditations. The next day was destined to
be a specially busy one. Several of the
neighbouring vicars and rectors were to meet
at Woodside, and Mr. Darcy, on such occa-
sions, always invited them to luncheon. Let
anybody try to imagine what must be the
result of inviting six or eight guests to a
substantial meal in a house where there are
no servants except a maid and a boy-of-all-
work ! Nora must order the luncheon, down
to its remotest detail; Nora must see with
her own eyes that what she ordered was
forthcoming ; and Nora, being scrupulous in
the matters of plate and glass, was also in the
habit of laying the table with her own hands.
But on this particular day her accustomed
share of work was not enough. While she

VOL. I. I

if4 AGAINST HER WILL.

was labouring, duster in hand, to make the
study presentable to her father's visitors,
Joe's towy head was pushed in at the door
with a terrible piece of news.

*^Miss Nora, Betty's cut her finger
welly off; it's a bleeding all over the
kitchen."

Nora flew to the scene of disaster. There
sat Betty, crying with fright and pain, and
with the whole of her apron twisted in a
huge bundle round the cut finger. With
some difficulty, and innumerable " Ohs ! '^
she got the bundle unrolled ; and the finger,
though by no means nearly off, proved to
be very badly cut. She bandaged it, and
consoled Betty; but the hand was clearly
useless for the present^ and there was no
alternative for the " daughter of a hundred
earls " but to turn cook herself in good
earnest.

It was in emergencies that Nora proved
herself to be, as Betty had said, " a lady
every inch of her." She neither lost head
nor temper. It was very unnecessary, she
thought, that her father's guests should have

AGAINST HER WILL, ns

occasion to talk either of the poverty or of
the bad management which prevailed in
Woodside Vicarage. ^^ Go to your mother,
Joe," she said promptly, " and ask if she
can come and help Betty for a few hours.
As for the dishes, I shall see to them myself;
and you must manage to wait at table with-
out directions from me."

Then she went to Mrs. Darcy.

" Mother," she said, " Betty has cut her
finger, and cannot manage all she has to do.
Will you please try to do without me at
table? and I will stay in the kitchen and act
head cook."

^^ My dear child, what will people think if
you don't make your appearance?"

"There's not a soul coming who will
notice it ; and they will certainly think you
have got a cordon bleu in the kitchen, if you
let me have my way."

" But what will your papa say ? "

" For once, we must not mind what he
says ; but I will go and tell him."

She went to the study, where Mr. Darcy
now was.

ii6 AGAINST HER WILL.

" Papa, which can you do best without at
luncheon — me or the eatables ? "

^^ My dear ! " said the Vicar.

"I think I am the least important; so
please don't ask for me, papa, and, if any-
body else does, tell them I am 'particularly
cngagedP

The end of it all was that Mrs. Walters,
Joe's mother, took Betty's chief work for the
day, and that Nora's own capable hands
prepared and sent in a luncheon which did
no discredit to a country parsonage. The
one bit of pride which Miss Darcy inherited
was an insuperable dislike to being pitied on
the score of poverty. ^' We are poor," she
would say, " and every one of our pennies
must do its work ; but we are rich enough
to want nothing, not even compassion, from
people wie don't care for."

This occupation of Nora prevented her
from seeing Mr. Norton and Bertie, who
were of the party at luncheon. In the
afternoon she was obliged to go to the
schools, and in the evening she and her
father were at Mr. Bennett's. Phoebe also

AGAINST HER WILL. 117

was there, as it was a small party in honour
of Mrs. Bennett's birthday ; but Bertie had
ridden home with the vicar of an adjoining
parish, and did not arrive until after Mr.
Darcy, who was tired with the day's excite-
ment, had carried his daughter off.

In the course of the next few days Nora
began to wonder whether she had altogether
naistaken her old playfellow's meaning on
the day when he had twice seemed to be
on the very point of saying something im-
portant to her. . If it had really been what
she fancied, and what she knew perfectly
well both his and her friends wished it to
be, it seemed strange that he had allowed
opportunity after opportunity to slip by.
His leave was now just ending ; in a day or
two he would be gone from Woodside, and
would, probably, not be there again for
months. She would have liked to ask what
her mother thought ; but, although she had
none of the feeling which makes a lover's
name something sacred, unpronounceable
even to the most trusted ears, she hesitated.
•^^I am in no hurry," she said to herself.

ii8 AGAINST HER WILL.

"I suppose I shall know what he meant
some day."

A little light shone on the question the
day before Bertie left Woodside. Mr.
Darcy wanted to call on Mr. Norton, and
asked Nora to walk to Dean's Hall with
him. They went accordingly in the after-
noon; but the Vicar had delayed so long,
that it was growing dusk when they turned
in at the gate. From this point the house-
door was full in view; and at present it
stood wide open, with the doorway strongly
lighted from within. In the arch, just
leaving the house, was Phoebe Pritchard ; a
step below her, on the gravel, stood Captain
Lansdowne.

^^Oh, how dark it is!" Nora could hear
her say, as she put out her hand in a pretty,
helpless way.

Bertie took the hand to lead her down,
but she still lingered a moment in the
porch.

^^Is the step deep?" she asked. "I am
always afraid of the first plunge."

^^ Can't you trust me?" he answered.

AGAINST HER WILL, 119

"Do you think I •would not take care of
you?"

They had been so occupied with each
ether that Mr. Darcy and Nora had now
come quite close to them unheard. That
speech of Bertie's gave Nora a queer kind
of shock. She stood still and cried out
" Phoebe !" almost sharply.

But when she saw the sudden confusion
that fell upon them both, she could not help
laughing.

Phoebe stepped down into the darkness
without any further hesitation, without even
the aid of Bertie, who had dropped her
hand.

" I am just going home," she said, rather
hurriedly. " Miss Norton has been teaching
me to net, and I stayed longer than I
intended. You must not come with me
now, Captain Lansdowne: I can go home
quite well by myself."

" Nonsense," said Nora. " Good-bye,
then."

"I was coming to the Vicarage to say
good-bye," said Bertie, who was cool again

120 AGAINST HER WILL.

by this time; "or shall I find you here
when I come back?"

" We are only going to stay a few
minutes."

"You will find me with Mrs. Darcy,
then."

Upon this the two went off together, and
Mr. Darcy and Nora entered the house.

While the Vicar and Mr. Norton were
talking, the twin sisters discoursed to Nora
about Phoebe. It was not at that moment
the most congenial subject; but one thing
was evident, — if Bertie had any special
admiration for Phoebe, neither his mother
nor aunt suspected it.

"So it is probably all nonsense," said
Nora to herself; "and yet," she could not
help adding, " it did look very like a flirta-
tion — and she is so very pretty ! "

Bertie was found at the Vicarage, did say
good-bye much as he had done dozens of
times before, and next day was gone from
Woodside, apparently as free from "inten-
tions" as if neither Nora nor Phoebe had
existed.

A GAINST HER WILL. 1 2 1

CHAPTER VIII.

It happened that, on the day of Captain
Lansdowne's departure from Woodside, Mrs.
Darcy asked Nora to take a message to Mrs.
Pritchard. Perhaps Nora would not havd
chosen to visit Phoebe at that moment ; but,
being forced to do so, she was rather curious
as to how her new friend would look and
speak.

For a wonder the aunt and niece were sit-
ting together. Nora delivered her mother's
message, and Mrs. Pritchard was obliged to
go in search of tlie doctor, in order to
consult him as to her answer. As soon as
the two girls were alone, Phoebe said, —

" You startled me so last night."

<^Why?"

122 AGAINST HER WILL,

^' Oh, I don't know; only I never thought
of your being there close to us in the
dark."

*^ Anybody might have been there."

"Yes, of course. Captain Lansdowne
would not let me walk home alone."

" It was dark enough to make walking
alone unpleasant, I should think, especially
to a town girl like you.*'

"So it was. My aunt wants some cur-
tains netted, and Miss Norton offered to
teach me. That is how I had been there all
the afternoon."

Mrs. Pritchard came back at this point
with her answer, and Nora went home. As
she went, she meditated. Why had Phoebe
spoken as if in self-defence? What was
there in her look and manner which was
new? It seemed as if there was hovering
about her beautiful lips the faint dawn of
a smile, and her manner seemed rather
demure than sad.

"How horribly ill-natured I am!" said
Nora to herself.

Bertie went away on a Friday — the first

AGAINST HER' WILL, 123

Friday in February. The weather, which
had been unusually calm and bright through
January, changed just at the change of the
month. A keen east wind set in, alternat-
ing with rain; and nothing could be more
wretched than the aspect of the country.
Colds were caught by the dozen ; bronchitis
and rheumatism had a perfect carnival
among the old and poor.

Nora, wrapped from head to foot in her
shabby waterproof, had enough to do to
visit all the sick people who wanted her.
This, however, she did not mind. She was
a good match for cold and fatigue; and^
after all, the grand difficulty of such work
as hers is to do it for those who are thank-
less.

Of that difficulty she knew scarcely any-
thing. The parish, which considered her as
its property, loved her as we love the things
consecrated by that magic word "mine";
and she knew that she had but to show her
face anywhere in order to find a welcome.
But what she did feel as a serious trouble in
this unhealthy season was that there were

124 AGAINST HER WILL.

things she could not do — ministrations to the
sick and dying which must come from the
Vicar himself, and for which he must go
where they were needed and when they
were needed. There was no possibility of
saving him the long walk through dripping
rain or piercing cold, which would take him
to some farm or cottage where mortal sick-
ness or death called him.

From these errands the Vicar always
came in chilled in body, and depressed in
mind. He would go into the drawing-room,
where his wife was, and sit down opposite to
her, as if he wanted her companionship.
But, when he had answered her questions
about the family he had visited, he would
sink into a complete silence and immobility ;
so that sometimes Mrs. Darcy would think
he was asleep, until she noticed his eyes
fixed on the fire with a look of trouble
which she could not understand.

He still worked in his study every morn-
ing. His 'sermons and his ^ Life of Arch-
bishop Lanfranc ' occupied him as usual for
some hours, but Nora knew that the ^ Life '

AGAINST HER WILL. 125

was making no progress. Day after day
the same sheet lay unfilled, and she had an
almost complete holiday from her work of
transcribing and translating extracts. She
said nothing to her mother of this, nor even
of something which made her still more
uneasy.

One day, when she was with her father in
the study, she noticed that he wrote a word^
passed his pen through it, wrote it again,
sat looking at it with a puzzled air, and
then laid down his pen and looked at her.
Meeting her eye, he said, nervously, —

" Come here, my dear, and read this last
sentence ; it does not satisfy me."

She came, and read over his shoulder,
much wondering, for Mr. Darcy had cer-
tainly never before asked criticism from
his daughter. It was the conclusion of
a sermon on Pride of Intellect, and the
sentence just written was something like
this: —

" Let us each suppose ourselves the
possessor of an intellect as clear and
powerful as any the world has ever known ;

126 AGAINST HER WILL.

can we say, — ^ As I know and judge to-day,
so I shall know and judge to-morrow, — all
the mental wealth I own now will be mine
equally an hour hence'? No; for who
shall assure us against the first step of slow
decay, or the swift ruin of paralysis ? "

^'It is all right, papa, I think," she said;
^^ but it is a very melancholy idea. I would
rather remember that great intellects do
good and lasting work for the benefit of the
smaller ones, than speculate on the chance
of their breaking down before it is finished,"

The Vicar seemed strangely relieved by
her answer.

" Do you remember the story of Gil Bias
and the Archbishop?" he said, smiling.
^^ Don't presume too far upon my invitation
to criticize."

He took up his pen again, and she re-
turned to her seat ; but presently he leaned
back in his chair and went on talking.

" The fact is that I begin to fear there
is something wrong with my memory. It
is very extraordinary that sometimes, when I
want one word, I get another entirely diffe-

AGAINST HER WILL. 127

rent instead of it. I have been uneasy all
the week from the idea that in my sermon
last Sunday I said Seo-fxvos instead of h^h^Km.
It was no use to ask Mr. Norton, for he was
asleep ; and I doubt whether anybody else
in the congregation knows one Greek word
from another. But it has annoyed me. It
might have been, in English, too, for I do
find words slip away from my lips in a
strange fashion."

Nora looked at her father in surprise and
incredulity. This must be " papa's fancy,"
no unheard-of thing in her experience. Yet
he was evidently deeply in earnest, puzzled,
and distressed. She said, truly enough, —

" I have never noticed anything of the
kind, papa. You have had more than usual
to do and to think about lately, and you
have got nervous."

" Well, my dear," the Vicar returned, in
a more placid tone, ^^ I hope that is all. In
case you should — " he went on, hesitatingly,
^^ in case I should say anything odd, you
might tell me."

"I will be sure to notice, papa," Nora

128 AGAINST HER WILL.

promised ; and from that time she did notice
anxiously and carefully her father's words,
looks, and manner. She never once detected
him in saying " anything odd"; but she saw
him once or twice hesitate before pronouncing
some word, as if to consider whether it was
the right one. Still that only showed that
he had fallen into a nervous condition, which
was evident enough in other ways. He
caught a bad cold, and was quite an invalid
during the last week of February and the
beginning of March.

It was in the last week of February that
Captain Lansdowne astonished Woodside by
reappearing there. He wrote to his mother
to say that he found he could run down for
a couple of days, and that, therefore, she
might expect him the following evening.
Miss Norton trotted over with the news to
the Vicarage, and Nora could not help say-
ing to herself, ^^ Something is going to
happen now."

It chanced that the elder people of the
Woodside society were invited to dine at
Dean's Hall on the evening Bertie had fixed

AGAINST HER WILL. 129

for^ his coining. The Vicar's cold had
obliged him and his wife to decline; but
the Bennetts and Pritchards were going,
and one or two people from a greater
distance.

" But as Bertie is coming," said Mr.
Norton, " you may just as well ask the
young folks for the evening. Alick Forsyth
is down, and we shall not have him and
Mariana much longer."

Accordingly, Nora and Bertie met in a
room full of people. Perhaps she could not,
certainly she would not, have said why she
was rather surprised that he met her exactly
as usual, that is to . say, like a very aflPec-
tionate and admiring brother. If she had
had the very least hidden feeling of pique
against him during his absence, it melted
completely away while he spoke to her.

"It is delightful to see you again so
soon," she said, heartily.

"An extraordinary piece of luck," he
answered ; " and still more luck to find you
all here together."

It was an unmistakable fact that he did

VOL. I. K

130 AGAINST HER WILL.

not look at her when he said the last words.
She saw it; and saw that his eyes had
wandered to the other side the room, where
Phoebe was standing. She almost laughed a
minute after, when she watched him go up
to the belle of the party, and speak to her,
while her lovely face smiled upon him as it
had never smiled upon 'anybody else since
she came to Woodside.

Nora was obliged to confess to herself that
she did not enjoy the evening much. She
would have done so a great deal more if she
had not felt somehow compelled to keep on
watching Phoebe. To watch a flirtation is
always an amusement to a disinterested
bystander, but Nora's amusement had just
too strong a flavour of personal concern to
be agreeable. She was glad when it was
over, and the Bennetts had dropped her at
home. She was not sorry to find that her
mother was gone to bed, so that there was
no occasion for her to speak of her visit.

Next day, at one o'clock, everybody at
Dean's Hall was asking for Bertie. The
luncheon-bell had rung, but he was not

AGAINST HER WILL. 131

» " I' ■■ 11 " ■ ■' * III— — i l l. II

forthcoming, nor had anybody heard the
few words exchanged between him and
Phoebe, the night before, which would have
accounted for his absence. He came in ten
minutes late, and said he had been for a
walk, which was all the satisfaction anybody
got out of him until they left the table.

As they got up, however, he said, —

^^ Uncle, I should like to speak to you, if
you are not busy ; " and the two walked
off together into Mr. Norton^s sitting-room.

^^Well, my boy, what is it?" said the
old gentleman, sitting down in his great
chair.

Bertie had walked to the mantelpiece, and
was pushing the vases and letter-racks into
a mathematically straight line while he
spoke.

" I wanted to tell you what I came down
for.'^

" Ah ! to tell the truth, I thought some-
thing special must have brought you.''

" I came to see if I could get a wife.'*

" Good ; very good. And I suppose you
have succeeded ? ''

132 AGAINST HER WILL.

" Yes."

" My deax boy, I am heartily glad of it.
You could not find a better girl anywhere."

" No, indeed. But I am glad you think
so."

"And then," continued Mr. Norton,
rubbing his hands, "having known her all
her life, we are quite ready — ''

"Known whom, sir?" cried Bertie, inter-
rupting.

" Why, Nora, of course. It is Nora, I
suppose ? "

" Good Heavens ! " cried Bertie again, " I
quite forgot Nora."

" Then whom are you talking about ? "

" Phcebe, sir, — Phoebe Pritchard. I asked
her tHs morning to marry me, and she said
' Yes.' "

At the mention of Nora's name, Bertie
had turned from the mantelpiece and faced
his uncle. His bronzed cheeks and white
forehead were all one deep red of vexation.
How could he have so utterly forgotten
Nora?

Mr. Norton never looked at his nephew.

AGAINST HER WILL. 133

He took his spectacles from his pocket,
rubbed them, put them on, took up the
Times, and began to read. All this, how-
ever, was merely to gain time. Mr. Norton
disliked speaking unadvisedly. After a
minute, he held the Times lower, and looked
over it.

^^ We all thought it was to be Nora," he
said.

" So did I," answered his nephew. " Upon
my honour, imcle, I do not know how it has
come about ; all I do know is, that Nora is
one of the best and dearest girls in the world,
but that it is Phoebe, and not Nora, that I
want to marry."

"Very well, my boy. You know your
own affairs best, and you are your own
master. Perhaps you had better go and tell
your mother."

Thus dismissed. Captain Lansdowne had
nothing to do but to go. He found his
mother trimming her plants, and began at
once, with a dread of any further mis-
takes.

" Mother, I have a great piece of news for

134 AGAINST HER WILL.

you. Phoebe Pritchard has promised to be
your daughter."

Mrs. Lansdowne looked at him, and then
burst out laughing.

"Really, Bertie,'' she said, "you ought
not to say such things ; it is not fair either
to Nora or Phoebe."

" Fair or not," Bertie answered, quickly,
and in great annoyance, "it is true."

" True ? Phodbe ? " said Mrs. Lansdowne,
her laugh giving place to a look of amaze-
ment and horror. Her son was not
looking at her, but he answered almost
sulkily, —

" Phoebe, and no other. I am not to be
blamed for other people's mistakes, or my
own either," he added, in a lower voice.
" Mother, do you think Nora — ? "

" I think nothing about Nora," Mrs. Lans-
downe answered, decidedly. ^^ It is you
that I have a right to think about and
speak about."

"But do be reasonable." He put his^
arms round her waist, and drew her away
from her flower-stand to a seat. " If I love

AGAINST HER WILL. 13S

< ■ ■ III I ■

Phoebe, is there any reason why you should
object to my marrying her ? "

" Oh, Bertie, Bertie ! " his mother said,
softened, but not the less troubled. " If
anybody had told you a month ago that
you would do this, would you have believed
them ? "

" No, it is true enough ; I would not.'^
He was silent for a minute, during which
the vivid recollection of that twilight walk
with Nora came clearly before his eyes.
" I don't understand it now," he went on,
presently. "I must have been a fool,
though I don't think I was anything
worse."

" I am afraid you have been foolish, my
poor boy, and precipitate," Mrs. Lansdowne
said, sighing ; but she meant one thing, and
he another.

" Don't say a word against Phoebe,
mother," he answered ; and, kissing her, got
up to end the discussion. ^^ It is all settled
now; and you will be kind to her, won't
you ? You will not be able to help loving
her, however much you may blame me."

136 AGAINST HER WILL.

Mrs. Lansdowne shook her head, but she
said no more. And Bertie, with a miserable
feeling of being in the wrong, went out of
the house in company with a cigar, to smoke
and meditate.

What Mr. Norton had said was quite
true as to Captain Lansdowne being his own
master. He had a suflScient inheritance
from his father to live, and even to many,
if he pleased, without depending at all upon
his uncle ; though, in that case, the young
household would be somewhat stinted. He
knew he had no reason to fear coercion, and
purposeless ill-temper was not the weakness
of the Norton family, yet he was thoroughly
vexed at the way in which his announce-
ment had been received; conscience was a
little uneasy, though it had no accusation
to make, and he walked up and down, as
discontented with himself and other people as
it was possible for a newly accepted lover to be.

He saw Phoebe again in the evening, and
received Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard's consent to
their engagement. But even this was not
entirely satisfactory; for, though pleased,

AGAINST HER WILL. 137

they were extremely surprised ; and he felt
that, though they said nothing of Nora, they
were most likely thinking of her.

Before he had spoken to his uncle, he had
intended to spend an hour at the Vicarage,
and to tell Mrs. Darcy and Nora his news
himself. But now, fully awakened to the re-
collection of what had been the position of
affairs just before Phoebe's appearance, he
began to feel that that was impossible, — in
fact, to feel considerable dread of seeing
Nora at all. The consequence was that, for
the first time in his life, he left Woodside
without having been to the Vicarage, or seen
either the Vicar or Mrs. Darcy.

The news was brought to them by Mrs.
Lansdowne and Miss Norton, who called, full
of mixed and uncomfortable feelings. Mrs.
Lansdowne wished to think that Bertie was
blameless, yet felt that the Darcys might
have a good deal to say on the other side.
Miss Norton was full of suppressed indigna-
tion against both Bertie and Phoebe, and of
sympathy for Nora.

"We have a great piece of news about

138 AGAINST HER WILL.

Bertie/' said Mrs. Lansdowne, opening the
subject. ^^ He wished us to come and tell
youj who are his oldest friends, first of aU.
He is going to be married."

" Bertie going to be married ! " repeated
Mrs. Darcy, with some incredulity.

^^ Yes — to Phoebe Pritchard. It is quite a
surprise to us," said Mrs. Lansdowne, apolo-
getically.

" Taken with a pretty face," said Miss
Norton. ^' I used to think Bertie had some
sense ; but, old and young, rich and poor,
men are all alike."

" You pay men a great compliment, Miss
Norton," said Nora, " when you say they are
aU like Bertie."

Mrs. Lansdowne looked at the girl quite
gratefully.

" Men certainly do judge differently from*
women," she said, " at least about the girls
they want to marry. There is no doubt
that Phoebe is. excessively pretty; and I
believe she is a good girl too," she added,
more doubtfully.

"She is wonderfully clever," said Nora^

AGAINST HER WILL. 139

who still blundered a little on that subject.
"I mujst show you the beautiful group of
flowers she painted."

In this way Nora took her bull by the
horns, rather to her mother's amazement.
There was no character in the world more
repugnant to her than that of a " paiivre
delaissee" All her quickness and courage
came to her aid when that seemed to threaten
her. If she had really been attached to
Bertie Lansdowne otherwise than in a
sisterly fashion, pride would no doubt still
have furnished her with weapons, but they
might have been taken up at random and
used too hotly. As it was, her heart was so
little wounded, that she kept full possession of
her head ; and the two ladies went away from
the Vicarage rather mystified, but still, all
things .considered, ready to swear that Nora
would not have married Bertie, had Phoebe
not existed.

That afternoon, as she trudged through a
drizzling rain, Nora put herself through a
final examination. "Am I heart-broken?
Not a bit. Am I very angry with Bertie ?

I40 AGAINST HER WILL.

Not at all. I don't think he could help it.
I only hope he won't think it necessary to
quarrel with me. Evidently, then, I am not
a bit in love, and there 's no harm done.
Yet, to be quite honest, I am a little sorry.
There would have been a good son for
mother, and a home for her, if she needed
it. Now I must begin to consider the future
all over again."

AGAINST HER WILL. 141

CHAPTER IX.

March brought some alleviation of the sick-
ness about Woodside. The east wind seemed
for a time to have spent itself, and, though
the weather continued cold, it was dry, and
sometimes sunshiny. Nora had less to do in
the parish; nevertheless, occupations multi-
plied on her hands.

The Vicar had never lost the bad cold
caught a month ago. Probably the depressed
state in which he had been at the time had
given it a firmer hold, and, though his spirits
had risen with the brighter days, he was
very weak and wasted in body. He had
never again spoken to Nora about his diffi-
culty with words ; but she knew, from slight
signs, that he was still at times distrustful of
himself. All this kept her vigilant and

142 AGAINST HER WILL.

anxious, the more so because she saw her
mother's anxiety, and would have given the
world to relieve it.

Mariana Bennett was to be married early
in April, and she wanted as much of Nora's
company as possible before their long part-
ing. The whole Bennett household was
overshadowed by the gloom of their
approaching loss, for Mariana had been a
model elder sister and daughter. She had
taught the girls, kept the boys in order, and
petted the babies; they all openly rebelled
against any attempt on the part of Clara
to take the soon-to-be-vacant throne, and
Mrs. Bennett had a hard struggle to go on
with the preparations for the wedding in the
spirit of self-sacrijfice in which she had first
given her consent to it.

In this disturbed household Nora was
always a welcome guest. She had been so
specially Mariana's friend, that everybody
regarded her as a sort of " double " of the
bride-elect. Everybody, from Mrs. Bennett
down to the youngest of the " Middle Ages,"
poured out their griefs and their secrets to

AGAINST HER WILL. 143

her ; and she had scarcely time to think of
her own loss, everybody was so very much
resolved that she should think of theirs.

Finally, she had Joe and the garden on
her hands and mind. Joe professed to
^^do'^ the garden; and very thoroughly
done it would have been if he had been left
to his own devices. He had certain funda-
mental ideas of horticulture, the chief of
which was that the ground ought to be
thoroughly dug as often as possible, without
regard to any roots which might chance to
be in it. In this way he had several times
sacrificed Mrs. Darcy's and Nora's pet
plants; and he was now strictly forbidden
to touch a spade except by express per-
mission. It was a daily temptation to Nora
to say to her faithful aid, " Surtouty point de
zdlcy" but she was afraid he might not under-
stand her.

In the midst of all these affairs she was
scrupulous about not neglecting Phoebe.
She had met her at first with a slight effort,
which was made harder by a strong con-
sciousness that Phoebe herself was not quite

144 AGAINST HER WILL.

easy. But that was at once got over, and
Phoebe's visits to the Vicarage went on.
The odd thing was that she, also, was
beginning to prepare for her marriage, over
which Mrs. Pritchard was excessively fussy.
It was fixed to take place in June ; and
Bertie was already looking out for a house
in London, where he hoped they might be
able to establish head-quarters, at any rate.

Bertie had received letters from the
Vicarage which had altogether removed from
his mind any uncomfortable feelings. He
had, therefore, nothing to do but to be in
love as deeply as ever he pleased, and he
certainly did not stint himself. Phoebe
lived in a golden shower of presents, for, as
Mr. Norton was going to furnish the house,
and to give the young people an allowance^
there was no need for him to economize.

Thus marrying and giving in marriage
were the order of the day at Woodside ; and
Nora often felt that she should be glad when
it was over, and she could have leisure to
look her own future in the face, and con-
sider how best to meet it. For her own

AGAINST HER WILL. 14S

future, in her thoughts, meant the future of
her passionately loved mother.

In old times Mr. Darcy had been fond of
talking to his daughter on an)^ subject that
interested him. Sometimes she had delighted
in this talk; sometimes she had been im-
patient of it. He had told her a thousand
things about his own family ; and when the
subject was either the doings of long dead
and gone Darcys, or the story of his own
boyhood, she had been quite happy. But
when he talked, as he was rather apt to do,
about the present grandeur of the race, she
listened with a distaste caught from her
mother. Now, however, the Vicar might
talk of what he liked ; and in many a dreamy
interval, when he leaned back, pen in hand,
seemingly too languid to go on with the
work which had once been his pleasure, she
felt herself forced to listen to details which
she had either not known or forgotten, and
to put in order in her mind all those family
circumstances which bore upon her present
position.

The Darcys had never been a prolific

VOL. I. L

146 AGAINST HER WILL.

race ; and, whether from the effects of the
countess's curse or not, no earl for a very
long time had been succeeded by his son.
In the beginning of this century there
reigned at Stanmore one of the best of the
line, Geoffrey, eleventh earl. • He had, of
surviving relations, only one brother and
two sons, and, mindful of the doom of the
house, he encouraged both his sons to marry
young. They obeyed him, — Geoflfrey in
1803, John in 1808 ; and in 1811 they were
both dead, and their father left to console
himself with three baby grandsons. These
were the two sons of Geoflfrey — ^John and
William — and Geoffrey, son of John. The
earl .took the three boys under his personal
care and that of his countess ; Geoffrey's
widow came with her babies to live at Stan-
more, and the little Geoffrey, who had lost
mother as well as father, was the special
charge of his grandmother. In this way the
three boys grew up together. The young
widow after a while married again, and to a
great extent separated herself from her sons
and their relations ; and, when the old earl

AGAINST HER WILL. 147

died m 1826, young John succeeded to the
title, and became the acknowledged head of
the remaining Darcys. The new earPs brother
and cousin were still boys. They continued
to live at Stanmore, and to be the close
friends their grandfather had trained them
to be. This union lasted until the earl's
marriage, and, although it began to crumble
from that time, it might not, perhaps, after
all, have been the fault of the young
countess that it did so. She was certainly a
woman of inordinate pride, and the idea
that her husband might die, and be suc-
ceeded by his brother or his cousin, was
enough to make both brother and cousin
disagreeable to her. William Darcy soon
found Stanmore less pleasant than formerly.
He entered the army, soon afterwards mar-
ried an heiress, and, having developed a
talent for money-making, and found in his
wife's fortune a 'point d^appui^ he set him-
self to what was henceforth the serious
business of his life, namely, getting rich.

Mean time GeoflFrey Darcy had chosen the
Church as his profession. There was one

148 AGAINST HER WILL.

very valuable living in the gift of the Early
which had been generally held by a rela-
tion, and there were others of smaller
value, — plentiful means, in fact, of providing
for any Darcy who might enter holy orders.
Geoflfrey did very well at Oxford, and
left it with the reputation of being a
wonderfully shy man, of blameless life, and
an excellent scholar. But now his troubles
began. The Darcys were poor, so poor that
the old earl had been able to leave nothing
whatever to young Geoflfrey in addition to
the dilapidated younger son's portion which
descended to him from his father; and though
this had mattered nothing while his ex-
penses at school or college were paid out of the
Stanmore revenues, he was destined to feel
it a serious evil, for the young countess could
see no reason why her husband's cousin
should rob the children she hoped to have
some day. A hint of her sentiments reached
GeofiBrey, and from that moment he refused
all assistance from the earl, and even
avoided being a guest at Stanmore for
more than a few days at a time. Still, he

AGAINST HER WILL. 149

finished his studies and prepared for his
ordination without any doubts as to the
family living, which would probably have
quietly descended to him but for a moirt
unlucky event

This event was his meeting with a girl,
Mary Ravenscroft, who had the double mis-
fortune of not having a drop of blue blood
in her veins nor a guinea in her purse. She
was the only child of one of the poorest of
poor curates, clever, good, and pretty, but
the last person in the world likely to be
acceptable at Stanmore as GeofiBrey Darcy's
wife.

It must be owned, too, that he did not
behave quite well in the matter. He per-
suaded Mary to marry him in ignorance of
his circumstances; and he said nothing
about her at Stanmore till he proposed to
bring her over to present her, as his wife, to
the earl and countess.

Instantly there fell terrible thunderbolts
on the head of the unfortunate bride and her
more blameable bridegroom. The countess
declared that under no circumstances would

150 AGAINST HER WILL.

she ever receive " the person " Geoflfrey had
chosen to marry. The earl considered that
it would be impossible to have Mr. and Mrs.
Geoffrey Darcy established at the park gates
if they were never to be admitted within
them ; and the end of it all was that
Geoffrey and his relations parted company
for ever, and, by the kindness of a college
friend, he and his Mary became Vicar and
Vicaress of Woodside.

The children the countess desired had
never come to Stanmore Castle. She was
now dead ; and so were her brother-in-law,
William Darcy, and his wife. There re-
mained only six Darcy s altogether, — the
earl; William's two children, John and
Eleanor; the Vicar of Woodside and his
daughter, Nora ; and a more distant cousin,
Geoffrey, descended directly from the
Vicar's great-uncle John. There was also
one lady, a Mrs. Jermyn, who was a second
cousin by her mother's side to the present
earl.

These people were all the relations Nora
had in the world. She had no love for any

AGAINST HER WILL. 151

of them, and the idea of ever seeking, or
being obliged to receive, kindness from any
of them filled her with horror. ^^ They did ^
not think my mother worthy to be regarded
as one of them,'^ she would say to herself,
*^and I am sure if she is not I am not."
But still, now that her father's weakness had
a stronger claim than ever before on her
patience and forbearance, she began to feel,
as she listened to him, that ties of blood are
of some value, and that, if it were possible
for her to know and make friends with her
cousins, John and Eleanor, it might be well
for her. They were innocent of any wrong
to her mother. Their father she considered
to have been as bad as the earl, but they
had been babies at the time; indeed,
Eleanor had only been born after the Vicar s
marriage. ^^ If ever I do endure any of
my relations," she thought, ^^it will be
Eleanor."

Nora was not sure how much her mother
knew of Mr. Darcy's failing strength. Now
that he was in brighter spirits, he had
resumed so much of his general manner that

I £2 AGAINST HER WILL,

she thought it possible that Mrs. Darcy , who,
rarely entering his study, had no oppor-
tunity of observing how his hours spent
there had changed into hours of languid
idleness, might not be so much alarmed as
she was.

One day, however, she had an oppor-
tunity of judging more truly. Mr. Darcy
had just gone from the drawing-room to the
study, and she with him, when she missed
her handkerchief, and returned to seek it.
She opened the door very softly, hoping
that her mother might be taking her daily
half -hour's rest; but, to her dismay, she
found her sitting, with her face hidden in
her hands, in an attitude of the greatest
distress.

^^ Mother dear," she said, softly, kneeling
and gently drawing away the concealing
fingers, ^^ what is the matter ? What troubles
you?"

^'Cannot you giiess?" Mrs. Darcy asked,
drawing her child close to her, and almost
whispering.

^^ Are you anxious about papa ?"

AGAINST HER WILL. I53

^^ Nora, I am afraid to think. You have
never said that you were anxious, but, my
child, do you think I cannot read your
face?"

^^He is better, dearest, ever so much
better. He was too much worried while
there was so mnch sickness in the parish,
— that is all."

Mrs. Darcy shook her head.

"He is less depressed, but no better in
bodily health. I doubt if he ever will be."
Her voice was the merest whisper as she
•ended.

Then, although the words had not ex-
pressed it, Nora knew that her mother's fear
was more terrible than her own. She had
seen her father failing, and had only
thought of gradual decay, of inability to do
the needful offices of a priest, of long help-
lessness, and poverty made pinching by the
greater need of expense ; but she was struck
dumb before the spectre of widowhood and
orphanhood her mother had called up close
in her path. Those terrible minutes when,
for the first time, we are forced to picture to

156 AGAINST HER WILL.

Ellen Forsyth, and Jennie, — that is quite
enough."

"But, my dear," urged Mrs. Bennett,
" won't it seem unkind to leave out the only
girl in Woodside ? — and such a pretty girl,
too."

" Mamma, I should really dislike it. I
don't know why, but she is ' antipatica.'
Besides, remember she is in deep mourning."

So the mourning was allowed to bear the
blame of Phoebe's exclusion ; but she was, of
course, with her uncle and aunt among the
guests. Mrs. Pritchard made her put off her
black dress for the day, and, as she refused
to wear the smallest scrap of colour, she
appeared *^ clad in robes of virgin white," an
angelic figure, which would have utterly
eclipsed the bride in any less loving eyes
than those which surrounded her. The
bridesmaids were in blue, which made
Phoebe the more conspicuous and the more
bride-like. The Vicar had not been so well
for many weeks as he was on the wedding-
day; and, consequently, his wife and
daughter felt freer from the weight of

AGAINST HER WILL. 15?

apprehension. He read the service with his
usual gentle dignity, and was quite ready
and willing to enjoy the breakfast afterwards.

People have a great deal to say against
wedding breakfasts, much of which is true.
How can there be any enjoyment in a huge,
crowded assemblage of people who care
nothing either for each other or for the
"happy pair," and who are further oppressed
by a series of stupid speeches? At Mrs.
Bennett's table the guests did enjoy them-
selves. They were but twenty in all ; and
they were realty friends, or very near
connexions (with the exception of Phoebe,
who was pretty enough to be excused other
qualifications). There were no speeches, and
no tears. Everybody had been ordered to
forget, for that day, the destination of the
bride, and only to remember that she was to
be back again in Woodside for May-day.

Early in the afternoon she and her
husband drove away through a crowd of
men, women, and children, who, having
known her all her life, had come to wish her
joy. And then the excitement was over.

158 A GAINST HER WILL.

The guests went home. Mrs. Bennett had
recourse to her knitting until her eyes should
feel strong enough for a novel ; and Clara lay
down on her bed, and cried herself to sleep.

When the Darcys got back to the
Vicarage, Nora felt much inclined to do as
Clara Bennett was doing, for she knew the
loss of her old companion would be grievous
to her ; but she had some arrears of work
to make up, and, after taking off her
smart dress, she shut herself in the bare
little room dedicated to club and other
accounts, and devoted herself to her books.
She went, about four o'clock, to give Mrs.
Darcy her afternoon cup of tea, and, finding
her alone, asked with some vexation, —

" Is papa gone to the study ? I thought
he meant to take a complete holiday to-day."

'' He dozed a little here in his chair," Mrs.
Darcy answered; ^^ and when he woke, he
said he would go and write a letter, and
then come back.''

^^ Has he been long gone ? "

^' Only ten minutes or so. He seems
wonderfully little tired."

AGAINST HER WILL, 159

^* I will finish my work, then, before I
look him up. Oh, mother, you never saw
such a mess as the Clothing Club-book is in !
I shall keep the accounts myself in future ; it
will be far less trouble."

'' Cannot I help you ? "

" I am in a fair way to get it straight
now. I will ask for your advice about it this
evening." She went back to her task, and
struggled through the blotted and confused
accounts for a much longer time than she
had anticipated. The fading light stopped
her, and reminded her of her intention to go
and see if the Vicar wanted her.

"She put away her books, and went quickly
to the study, to see if he was still there. He
was ; sitting at his writing-table, with a half-
finished letter before him, and a strange
expression on his face, as if he were sleeping
with his eyes open.

" Papa," she said, " you promised to rest
this afternoon."

As she spoke, and he turned to answer her,
he seemed to wake up.

" I did, my dear," he answered ; " and I

i6o AGAINST HER WILL.

have kept my promise. I have done
nothing."

" You should not have tried to write
letters," she went on : ^^ you were tired
enough, I am sure."

^^ Yes," he answered; ^' the funeral this
morning did tire me."

^^ Funeral!" was on Nora's lips, but she
just checked herself in time. Her father was
evidently quite unconscious of having said
anything strange. ^^ Won't you come into the
other room now ? " she said, quickly hiding
the shock the word had given her. " Mother
will be growing uneasy."

" Yes : I can finish this to-morrow."

He got up without saying anything more^
and walked away to the drawing-room.
Nora lingered. Her heart seemed to stand
still ; she did not know what to do, or how
to face the idea of her mother's trouble at
this fresh development of her father's illness.

* ^ Perhaps I am frightening myself for
nothing," was the first consoling thought
that came into her mind. ^' Everybody uses
one word for another sometimes. If he had

AGAINST HER WILL. i6i

not spoken about it before, or if it had not
been such a terrible mistake ! '^

Fear mastered her. She stepped to the
table, and took up the half-written letter,
which, contrary to his usual orderly habits,
the Vicar had left lying there. It began,
" Dear Sir,^' and was, apparently, to one of
the principal parishioners upon some parish
business; but the few sentences which
were written were utterly unintelligible,
from the incongruous words jumbled to-
gether in them. No doubt as to the pro-
priety of reading the paper herself had
troubled her in her perplexity; but she
instantly felt that no one else must see it, —
not even her father, if, to-morrow, he should
be stronger. She tore it up into small
shreds, and carefully burned every one,
thinking meantime, ^^What shall I do?
what can I do ? " She looked at her watch.
There was still half an hour at her disposal.
She peeped into the drawing-room, saw that
her father was comfortably seated, . news-
paper in hand, and her mother placidly
sewing, and just stopping to say, *^ I shall

VOL. I. M

i62 AGAINST HER WILL

have done almost directly, mother," she ran
upstairs, seized cloak and hat, and slipped
out of the house imnoticed by anybody.

She almost ran through the churchyard
and across the street to Dr. Pritchard's door.
There she rang with an anxious avoidance
of haste, and spoke to the servant who
opened it, in the best possible imitation of
her usual manner. She had often come at
all hours of the day for advice or remedies
for the poor ; the doctor's boy saw nothing
surprising in her visit, and when she said,
" I want to speak to Dr. Pritchard," showed
her into the surgery, and left her.

She stood looking out into the dusky
evening till she heard the brisk step of the
parish doctor coming, and then she turned
hastily to meet him. " Ah, Miss Nora," said
he, cheerfully, " I did not expect to see you
again this evening. What is it ? Another
chHd scalded ? "

"It is my father," she answered; and, in
a moment, her face and voice showed that it
was a serious matter which had brought
her.

AGAINST HER WILL, i53

"Not ill? Overtired by this morning,
perhaps ? "

"I think so. But what I wanted to ask
you is this — Do you know anything of a
disease which makes people forget words —
makes them say or write one thing when
they mean another ? "

" There is such a disease ; or, rather, per-
haps, such a symptom, known. But explain
more fully."

She told him her story hurriedly, but clearly.

" Do not frighten yourself, my dear," he
said when she had done, "nor let Mrs. Darcy
frighten herself either. It is very distress-
ing, of course, but may not prove in the
least serious."

" You know that people have been affected
in this way, then. Dr. Pritchard ? "

"I know it from reading. I have never
seen a case of it. We have no great variety
of complaints, you know, down here ; and we
are rather apt, perhaps, to be startled by a
new one."

" I thought I should be more comfortable
when I had spoken to you."

i64 AGAINST HER WILL.

" You were quite right. However, we
will say nothing to anybody else at present.
I will see Mr. Darcy to-morrow morning,
and I promise you that the moment I feel
my skill not equal to the case I will tell you
so.

" Thank you, Dr. Pritchard ; I know I can
trust you."

" You are a sensible girl, my dear, as well
as a good one. If you were foolish, I should
tell you your fears are foolish ; as it is, I
promise to do all I can to relieve them for
good and all."

Nora got home again unperceived, and
with some degree of relief. Once or twice
in the course of the evening, the Vicar used
words which she felt certain were not the
ones in his thoughts ; but they were not so
glaringly wrong as to startle Mrs. Darcy.
The worst thing happened as he was reading
to them from the newspaper an account of a
balloon ascent. " The unfortunate aeronauts,"
he read, " all received severe benedictimis
before the balloon could be secured." " ^Bene-
dictions'?" said Mrs. Darcy; "that is a

AGAINST HER WILL. 165

queer printer's error. ^ Brijiises/ I suppose,
it ought to be."

" Yes, of course, ^ bruises,' " answered the
Vicar, with a troubled look, and no more
was said; but, later, Jfora assured herself
that the printer had nothing to do with the
mistake.

Dr. Pritchard called next morning, and
had a long chat with Mr. Darcy. Nora had
managed so as to be going out at the moment
he left the study, and they walked along the
churchyard together.

" I see no signs whatever of mental dis-
turbance or brain disturbance," he said.
" We have had a long talk upon all sorts of
topics and he never appeared to me to talk
more to the purpose in his life. Yet you
could not have been mistaken ? "

^^ I wish I could," she answered, sadly; and
then related the slips of the previous evening.

^^ Perhaps," she added, ^^ he is only
affected in this way when he is tired."

" It would seem so. If you notice any-
thing of the kind to-day, let me know;
and I will make some excuse for coming

i66 AGAINST HER WILL,

in to-morrow evening, instead of in ^the
morning."

They parted at the churchyard, and Nora
tried to take heart, or, at any rate, not to
think of her anxieties until her day s work
was done. In the afternoon, the Vicar spent
a couple of hours writing. Nora looked over
his manuscript afterwards, and could see no
error. She coaxed him into the garden,
which was gay with the later spring flowers ;
and as he walked round it with her, talking
cheerfully, she said to herself, ^' How thank-
ful I am that I did not give mother a fresh
fright yesterday. Papa was simply over-
tired, and had been half-asleep over that
letter."

In the evening the Vicar complained of
his eyes, and asked Nora to read aloud.
Not a single thing occurred to trouble the
quiet of the family, and Nora went to bed
thankful that she had nothing to tell Dr.
Pritchard.

AGAINST HER WILL. 167

CHAPTER XI.

There was scarcely any renewal of alarm in
the course of the next week. Now and'
then, Nora detected a sentence transposed,
or a word misused, but only now and then.
And she observed that her father seemed
no longer to dread his own blunders, but to
be quite unconscious of them. This one
thing she had hidden from her mother, who
did not seem to suspect it ; in other respects
the Vicar was certainly less suflFering than
he had been, and they congratulated each
other on the improvement.

The next event of any interest to Weed-
cide was the return of Mr. and Mrs. Alick
Forsyth. They came back after a ten days'
absence, so that Mariana might be with her

i68 AGAINST HER WILL,

own people for a little while before the long^
voyage should separate them. After their
coming, the days passed only too quickly,
and the time for their going had arrived
before it seemed possible to spare them.

The evening of the 15th of May — the
last evening the travellers were to spend in
Woodside — the whole of the intimate little
society was gathered together at the Vicar-
age. Nora had told all her troubles to
Mariana, and implored her to watch, and tell
her truly whether she saw any change in
Mr. Darcy. Mariana, on the other hand, had
an interest of her own, of which she said
nothing to anybody, in trying to decipher
Phoebe Pritchard. It was wasted labour,
for Phoebe's nature did not contain anything
to decipher ; but Mariana had a fixed idea that
the girl was artful, when, in fact, she was
only rather selfish and very cowardly.
Phoebe would have been very glad to be
friends with Mrs. Forsyth ; she liked to be
friends with everybody, and to be met every-
where with smiles and approbation.

Mrs. Lansdowne had adopted her future

AGAINST HER WILL. 169

daughter-in-law with a submission which had
warmed up into something like satisfaction.
She was so very pretty, and Bertie was so
very much in love — Bertie, who, like the
king, could do no wrong. Miss Norton
had given in more reluctantly, and still
grumbled that men were all alike. She had
been wounded in her pride of insight, for
she had always said distinctly that Bertie
would marry Nora. Mr. Norton had been
very kind about the engagement ; but nobody
had ever heard him say whether he liked his
intended niece or no.

Mariana, always keeping her ears open to
the Vicar's talk, amused herself with watch-
ing this group of people. She was the only
person who had been seriously angry with
Captain Lansdowne for what she called his
inconceivable blindness and stupidity ; and,
though she would have been furious with
anybody who should have spoken of Nora
as jUted, or in any way ill used, she had a
perfect longing to break a lance with some-
body in vengeance for her wrongs. It was
very illogical, but it was very like Mariana,

170 AGAINST HER WILL.

and quite consistent with her being one of
the best and most lovable people in the
world.

Fortune gave her a chance for one small
hit. She found herself sitting close to
Phoebe, when the talk fell upon a story
which was just then a matter of gossip in
the neighbourhood. A servant-maid had
committed suicide, in despair for the loss of
a lover tempted away from her by her inti-
mate friend. Everybody had something to
say to the matter. Mariana waited till the
others had spoken ; then she said, with quiet
distinctness, —

^^I think the giil who killed herself was
an idiot, and the girl who robbed her a
murderess."

Phoebe's cheeks were aflame. *^ Oh — h ! "
she said, as if the strong words hurt her.

^^ Don't you agree with me. Miss Prit-
chard ? " Mariana continued, turning so as to
separate her victim from the other talkers.

" But she could not know," faltered
Phoebe, uneasy in spite of herself.

"You forget; the story says," answered

AGAINST HER WILL. 171

Mariana, purposely misunderstanding her,
^Hliat all the neighbourhood knew. The
friends seem to have made up their minds
the unfortunate girl was to marry the man,
just as we all expected that Nora would
marry Bertie. You must have heard of thxit^
of course?"

Phoebe lifted her head, and tried to say
*^ No," but it was no easy matter to tell a
lie with Mrs. Forsyth's keen eyes upon her.
She looked so pitiful in her discomfiture that
her enemy moved away, and left her to
recover as she could.

The party, according to Woodside custom,
dispersed early; but, just before leaving,
Mariana said to Nora, —

^' That girl is mean and untruthful. Pity
Bertie as much as ever you can, for he will
have bitter reason to repent marrying her."

With this oracular sentence she departed ;
and Nora said to herself, "What a craze
Mariana has taken about Phoebe ! Anybody
else in the world would think Bertie very
lucky."

The next day the young couple said their

172 AGAINST HER WILL,

last good-byes, and started for Liverpool,
escorted so far by Mr. and Mrs. Bennett
and Clara. Mariana left a crumb of comfort
behind her, in the assurance she had given
Nora that she saw no change in Mr. Darcy
greater than might be accounted for by the
obstinate cold, of which he had not been
able to get rid since February.

Never, since the Vicar and his wife came
to Woodside, had there been so much to talk
about as during the last six months, for events
which would have counted for nothing else-
where were great in that quiet little world.
The parish had a fine appetite for gossip,
and was delighted with the meal provided
for it. No sooner were the Forsyths out of
reach than the other approaching wedding
began to entertain the neighbourhood.

It was to take place in the end of June,
and Phoebe's trousseau was getting ready.
Mrs. Pritchard said, ''We had adopted her,
you know; and, of course, we expected
that, sooner or later, she would cost us a
good deal of money. Well, as she is going
off our hands so soon, we think we can't

AGAINST HER WILL. i73

do less than send her handsomely fitted
out."

. To suit this liberal idea, dresses, bonnets,
furs, garments of all kinds, were being col-
lected at the doctor's house. For a few days
after Mariana Forsyth's onslaught, Phoebe
was shy of seeing Nora; but she could
not be so long : it was absolutely neces-
sary to have somebody to show her pretty
things to, and to consult about colours and
fashions.

Weeks slipped by smoothly in such plea-
sant occupations. Nora had long ago dis-
missed from her mind the first uncomfortable
irritation of feeling herself supplanted ; she
was as friendly as ever to Phoebe, and could
not, or would not, believe what Mariana had
said about her bad qualities ; she did begin,
however, to have a pretty strong belief
that it was not for love Phoebe had accepted
Bertie.

" It is a dreadful shame, if I am right ! "
she said to herself. "He is over head and
ears in love with her, and she might care
more for him, poor dear boy ! "

174 AGAINST HER WILL,

^^^ •

Nora and Clara Bennett were to be brides-
maids ; in fact, Phoebe had no other girl
friends, and they could hardly have refused
if they had wished it. Nora did not wish
it •; she had both hoped and expected to be
asked. But Nora did want some one else
than her father to perform the ceremony.
She had been so terrified the evening of
Mariana's marriage, that she dreaded a repe-
tition of that day. It was in vain, how-
ever, for her and Mrs. Darcy to beg that
some one else might be found to take the
duty. Mr. Darcy was one of Phoebe's earliest
and steadiest admirers ; and as he had never
been in the plot to marry Bertie to Nora,
he was extremely well pleased with the idea
of marrying him to such a lovely and charm-
ing bride.

" We must make the best of it, my child, '^
said Mrs. Darcy, with an anxious face. ^^ I
don't know that Mariana's wedding really
did him any harm. He worked for a time,
you know, that very afternoon."

^'' He was dreadfully overtired, mother,''
answered Nora, who saw no use in further

AGAINST HER WILL. 175

disclosures. " But he must have his way, I
suppose."

He had his way, and they said no more.
But one evening, about a week before the
wedding. Dr. Pritchard received a hurried
little note from Nora, which said, —

" I have had a great fright, and should be
most thankful if you would make some
excuse for coming in to see papa to-night.
I went into the study a little while ago, and
found him standing in the middle of the
room, looking so strange and bewildered ;
and when I spoke he tried to answer, and
could say nothing but random words without
sense or connexion. I got him into his chair,
and brought him some wine, and he now
seems nearly all right ; but we shall not be
satisfied till you have seen him. Mother
knows nothing of the difficulty of intelli-
gible speech."

This note brought the doctor to the Vicar-
age without delay. He found Mr. Darcy on
the sofa, and owning to a great feeling of
weakness and depression. They had been
talking together for ten minutes or so, when

176 AGAINST HER WILL.

one of those curious and alarming word-
lapses of which Nora had spoken occurred.
There had lately been published a pamphlet
on a sanitary subject, of which the Vicar
had received a copy. After telling Dr.
Pritchard about it clearly enough, he called
Nora, and asked her to fetch it, giving as
the title something utterly disconnected
with the matter. Fortunately she had
heard the previous talk, and knew what to '
look for ; but as she went into the study, her
heart sank within her, and she could hardly
command herself so as to come back promptly
and naturally. She saw that the doctor was
startled: she watched him as his talk with
her father went on, and was certain that he
was seeking some fresh indication of weak-
ness ; she trembled meantime lest her mother ^
should catch the alarm.

Two or three times before Dr. Pritchard
left, some sentence, or some single word, all
astray, dropped from Mr. Darcy's lips. He
seemed quite unconscious of it himself ; but
Nora thought Mrs. Darcy was not so. At
last the doctor went away, giving the

AGAINST HER WILL, \^^

strongest injunctions to all three, to see that
the Vicar attempted no mental work of any-
kind whatever until he should see him
again.

The next day passed quietly. Orders
were obeyed, and Mr. Darcy did not enter
his study. The day following was Saturday.
Nothing would persuade the Vicar to relin-
quish his Sunday work to any one else ; all
he would agree to, was that Nora should
look him out an old sermon for each service.
He insisted upon spending a couple of hours
in retouching these, and otherwise preparing
for the next day ; but seemed quite content
to be nursed for the rest of the time.

On Sunday the services went on exactly
as usual. Nobody outside the Vicarage had
the least suspicion that they were listening
to an old sermon. The Vicar did not look
worse than he had done for some time past,
and Mrs. Darcy and Nora had said little to
any one of their anxieties.

But, on Sunday evening, Dr. Pritchard,
coming in, as he said, for a little gossip,
thought he saw cause for graver uneasiness

VOL. I. N

178 AGAINST HER WILL.

than before. He went away, saying that
he should call next morning ; and when he
did so, he began almost immediately to talk
about the great desirableness of occasional
change.

" If you and Mrs. I)arcy would run up to
London for a week, now," he said to the
Vicar, ^^it would do you all the good in the
world. You would see old friends ; and I
would give you a letter to my old master,
Dr. Ferroll, who would look after your
health meantime."

Nora, all her senses tense with anxiety,
caught instantly at the meaning of this.

" What a good idea ! " she said, eagerly.
^^ Papa, I am sure mother wants a change ;
do think of it."

Mr. Darcy looked from one to the other.

"Change!" he said. "Do you know
that we have not been away from Woodside
for a dozen years ? What should either of
us do in London ? "

" Plenty of things," replied the doctor,
readily. "You have no business, for instance,
to finish your ' Life of Archbishop Lanfranc,'

AGAINST HER WILL. 179

without searching the library of the Museum
yourself."

"That may be true," said Mr. Darcy;
^•' but who knows that I shall finish it ? I
often doubt it lately."

"Another symptom of your want of change.
I have not a single spark of the literary
faculty myself, but I have always heard that
it requires to be fed by contact with literary
life. How can you get that in Wood side ?
My dear sir, my most earnest advice to you,
both as a friend and a doctor, is, get some-
body to take your duty for at least one
Sunday, and start from here as soon as
possible."

With these words. Dr. Pritchard left the
room. Mrs. Darcy followed him out, and,
leading him into Nora's little room, shut the
door.

" Are you serious ? " she said. "You know
us too well, doctor, to advise an expensive
journey unless you saw urgent reason."

" Yes," he answered frankly ; " I do. And
if I have urged the Vicar to go to London,
it is really because I think that the only

i8o AGAINST HER WILL.

way to obtain more skilful treatment than
mine for him."

'' He is very ill, then ? " Mrs. Darcy asked,
with a trembling voice.

^^ No, I hope not. Certainly, I see no
reason for present alarm. But he is suffer-
ing in a way entirely new to my experience,
and to that of most country doctors. It
would be a very great relief to my mind, if
he were in Dr. FerrolPs hands for a little
while."

Mrs. Darcy held out her hand.

"iVb reason for present alarm?" she
repeated.

" I see none."

" We will go to London, with as little
delay as possible. Thank you, and good-
bye,"

Gradually, he could not have told how,
Mr. Darcy was won over to the plot of his
womenkind; but he absolutely refused to
go before Wednesday — ^the day fixed for the
wedding. Thursday, accordingly, was fixed
for the journey; and great was the excite-
ment throughout the parish at the news.

AGAINST HER WILL. i8i

One of the clergymen from Sunbury under-
took the duty for two Sundays ; he would
spend the Saturdays also at the Vicarage,
for any additional services that might be
required while Nora would stay at home and
take care of the parish through the week.
She would have been much happier, if she
could have gone in charge of her invalids ;
but it was hard enough to find money for
two, — ^three was out of the question.

On Tuesday the Vicar put together his
MS., which he had resolved to take with
him. Nora helped, and copied one or two
scraps, on which he had jotted down extracts.
All the papers were collected, when the
Vicar, sitting in front of his desk, opened
one of the drawers and pulled out an old
pocket-book. " Oh, there is something I
want in here," he said, turning over the
leaves. " Just copy this, my dear, and I
will rest meantime."

He gave her the book, and leaned back in
his chair while she began to copy. As she
wrote the first words, they struck her as
familiar: she went on, and a past scene

182 AGAINST HER WILL.

seeined to rise in her memory — she, herself,
■writing these selfsame words, '^Profundus
mortuus est, sed altus est ChristuSj^*
and a white-robed boy, with golden hair,
coming to her father, and drawing him
away, — the scene which had so impressed
her in sleep. She looked up in involuntary
expectation. Her father was sitting tran-
quilly waiting for her work to be finished,
— no beautiful, awful spectre was visible.
She hastened to end the extract, and, with
joy she was ashamed of, fastened the
papers together, and hurried the Vicar back
to the common life of the drawing-room.

* St Augustine^ 'Sermon on the Kaising of the
Widow's Son.*

AGAINST HER WILL. 183

CHAPTER XIL

The second wedding-day rose' upon Wood-
side in a mood most unlike the first. Clouds
hung about the sky in the early morning,
and gathered as the time passed. A thunder-
storm was evidently at hand, and all that
could be hoped was, that it would not break
until the party had returned from the
church.

Phoebe had a mortal terror of lightning.
No arguments, neither ridicule nor coaxing,
could persuade her to any kind of self-
possession while there was a flash to be
seen; and her aunt foretold, with horror,
that she would scream and tremble at the very
altar, if the weather gave her the smallest
excuse for doing so.

1 84 AGAINST HER WILL.

However, the clouds still gathered, and
still darkened, as the morning went on;
and the sky was covered with angry-
masses, edged, here and there, with lurid
borderings, which seemed ready to change
into lightning at any moment. The party,
much smaller than at Mariana's wedding,
went into the church. The Vicar was wait-
ing for them, and the service began.

As Nora stood near the bride, her thoughts
wandered fromi point to point, not very
cheerfully. It was impossible for her
to forget how very nearly she herself had
stood in the place Phoebe now occupied.
It would have been a mistake, she knew ;
Bertie never had cared for her as he did for
Phoebe ; nor had she cared for him, except
as a good and true brother. But, no doubt,
at this moment, she felt that to have a faith-
ful friend, who would be bound, both by
duty and affection, to take a share of her
burdens, would be a blessing beyond words
to describe. She had felt already that
Bertie's engagement had separated him from
her. While his marriq,ge was being cele-

AGAINST HER WILL. 185

brated, she was quietly saying a final farewell
to their old brother and sister relations ; and
there was a pang in this, as there is to
every real sister, who has been greatly
loved, when a stranger steps in between
her and her brother. And, with all these
meditations, there was the other still heavier
one of her father's illness. How would this
journey to London end ? Would the physi-
cians, in whom Dr. Pritchard had such
confidence, be able to fight this strange
disease ?

Her thoughts had completely carried her
away, when suddenly a dazzling flash of
lightning filled the church, and instantly
there followed one of those doubly and trebly
repeated peals of thunder which seem to
come from all parts of the heavens at once.
Phoebe started and trembled, but managed
to suppress a scream. Mr. Darcy paused
for a moment, and then went on, rather
hurriedly, with the service. But the storm
had now begun, and raged furiously. Flash
after flash, peal after peal, followed almost
without intermission. No one could stand

i86 AGAINST HER WILL.

unmoved ; and the bride, after showing infi-
nitely more courage than had been expected
of her, uttered a faint shriek, and fled from
her place to the nearest seat. There was
a general confusion. Phoebe sat crouching
down, covering her face with her hands, and
really half fainting with terror. ^ Bertie and
Mrs. Pritchard alternately implored her to
take courage, to return to her place, to be
reasonable ; while Nora, forgetting her
duties as bridesmaid, thought only of her
father, and the effect upon him of all this
extra excitement and fatigue.

For full ten minutes nothing could be
done. The wild uproar of thunder, wind,
and dashing rain filled the church, and
every moment the gloom was broken by the
blue glare of the lightning. Everybody was
more or less disturbed. Mr. Darcy closed
his book, and sat down. His wife, stand-
ing near to Nora, watched him with anxiety.
At length there was a slight subsidence of
the storm. The Vicar came forward again,
and with authority bade the others return to
their places. Phoebe still trembled, but she

AGAINST HER WILL. 187

dared not disobey. . The rest of the service
was read in the midst of noise which made
it almost inaudible ; and the guests, thankful
that it was over, began to consider how to
escape a drenching on their return to the
house.

Mrs. Darcy hoped the Vicar would con-
sent to go straight home, but he would
not. All, therefore, crossed over together to
Dr. Pritchard's ; and as the violence of the
storm was spent, and sunshine began to steal
through rifts in the clouds, everybody's
spirits rose, and the day promised to end
more happily than it had begun.

The Darcys were the first guests to leave
the doctor's house. There were still many
things to be done in preparation for to-
morrow's journey; and the mother and
daughter, never yet separated, had a thou-
sand things to say to each other.

The Vicar was very tired. He tried to
excuse Phoebe's behaviour in the church,
but it was evident that it had annoyed him,
as want of self-control in anybody always
did. At the earnest entreaties of his wife

1 88 AGAINST HER WILL.

and Nora, he lay down, and kept quite still
for an hour, seeming to doze; but after
that he got up, and said he must write a
letter.

" The last, my dear," he added, to stop
Nora's remonstrance. ^^ I '11 do no more, I
promise you."

He went to the study, and Mrs. Darcy,
going in soon afterwards, found him writing
busily. She left him, and saw no more of
him for about an hour. Nora was upstairs
packing; and when she came down, Mrs.
Darcy said, —

^^ Do go and try to bring your father
away from his letters. He must have
written half-a-dozen by this time."

Nora went to the study at once. As she
opened the door, she saw her father sitting
as he did when he was thinking over the
next sentence to be written. He was leaning
back, his head against the cushion of the
chair, and the pen still held in his hand,
which rested on the table. The whole
attitude was most common, most customary,
yet there was something about it strange

AGAINST HER WILL. 189

and full of a dreadful suggestion. She stood
still, and said, " Papa ! " in a voice which
did not sound like her own ; but there was
no answer. . " He is asleep," she tried to
persuade herself, and went up to him softly.
She lightly touched the hand that held the
pen; the pen fell from it, but the. fingers
made no movement towards hers. ^^ Papa ! "
she cried, louder ; but there was no word or
sign. Yet it was not death, for the other-
wise lifeless body was warm and breathing.
^^Oh mother!" she whispered to herseK as
she flew to seek help. She found Betty
and Joe together in the kitchen. ^^ Joe,"
she said, ^^ go and bring Dr. Pritchard
instantly; and, Betty, come with me."

There was a wide old settee in the study,
and on that Nora and Betty managed to lay
Mr. Darcy. They had just done so, when
Mrs. Darcy, surprised that Nora did not
return to her, came from the drawing-room.
" What is the matter ? " she cried, hurrying
to her husband's side.

" Papa has fainted, I think," answered
Nora, falling upon an untruth in her anxiety

I90 AGAINST HER WILL.

to spare her mother. ^^I have sent Joe for
the doctor.^^

It was no fainting fit, as she perfectly-
well knew; and when Dr. Pritchard said
" paralysis," both wife and daughter had
anticipated the word. What they could not
and would not anticipate was that this was
to be the final parting, the death of their
union. They told themselves and each other
that the spell of silence and immobility
would be broken, and that hope charmed
them, as it has charmed so many of us
through long watching and waiting, into
patience and strength.

Next morning, going into the study for
something else, Nora saw a letter lying upon
her father's table, beside the paper on which
he had last been writing. It was closed,
sealed, and directed, quite ready for the
post; and without doubt he had intended
it to be sent off. Yet when she saw the
address she hesitated, for it was ta ^^ The
Eight Hon. the Earl of Stanmore." For
twenty years there had been no intercourse
between the cousins. Nora's pride revolted

AGAINST HER WILL. 191

from the idea of trying to renew it. Why
had the Vicar written that letter? What
were its contents ? Had he felt the shadow
of death upon him, and written to his old
companion to beg assistance for those he
would leave so ill provided for? She
shrank from the thought. The proud family
who had rejected her mother was odious to
her. Yet she dared not keep back the
letter ; and though she was certain that the
sight of it would be painful to Mrs. Darcy,
to send it without consulting her seemed
wrong. Very doubtfully she carried it up-
stairs to ask what to do.

Mrs. Darcy was sitting by the bedside,
where all the poor remains of her husband
lay. She looked at the letter Nora showed
her with surprise and a momentary doubt,
and then she said, sighing,— ^^ Perhaps it is
better so. Have it sent to the post to-day."
And Nora submitted.

Slowly day after day passed, and one
week, and another, and a third crept by
with little change. Hope died out from the
watchers' hearts, where it had never taken

192 AGAINST HER WILL.

firm root. They had learned to see the
slight fluctuations that occurred without the
wild thrill of joy the first had caused them.
No light of life and recognition had shone,
or was ever likely to shine, in those eyes,
which, dim and haK shut, seemed always
on the point of closing in the long sleep of
death.

The parish knew the Vicar was dying,
and was sadiened by the knowledge. Many
who scarcely knew him fancied now that
he had been their friend and adviser, and
thought they should miss him all the rest of
their lives. The halo his wife and daughter
had woven round him stood him in good
stead; and the man who for five-and-
twenty years had been little more than
a cipher outside the walls of church and
study, was lamented and prayed for in his
extremity as if he had been the model of a
parish priest.

If sympathy could have been a help to
them, Mrs. Darcy and Nora would have
been fortunate indeed. Perhaps the proof
of regard which touched both of them most

AGAINST HER WILL. 193

was a letter from Bertie Lansdowne. He
and Phoebe were in Paris, but the moment
he heard of Mr. Darcy's illness he wrote.
"It almost seems as if it were one of my
own boys," Mrs. Darcy said, when, through
many tears, she had finished reading.

"He can do nothing for us," Nora
answered ; " but it seems natural and nice
that he should wish to be of use."

He wrote that they would stay a week at
furthest in France, and that once in Eng-
land he would trust them to telegraph to
him at any moment " to come and be
useful." Nora wrote back a hasty note of
thanks ; but they sent no summons, as indeed
it would have been quite useless to add
another to the array of helpers already at
hand.

In the dull routine of a sick-room the
weeks passed, and no answer was received
to that last letter. Perhaps it required
none ; perhaps it had been unintelligible ;
perhaps the Darcys were still unforgiving.

VOL. I. O

194 AGAINST HER WILL.

CHAPTER XIII.

In the height of the glowing summer, when
the fields were white unto harvest, a .stranger
preached in Woodside Church from the text,
^' And the reapers are the angels J^ It was
no such sermon as had been common there ;
no learned or eloquent discourse, but a very
ordinary piece of declamation, frothy and
flowery. Yet the preacher looked down
upon few unmoved faces ; tears followed his
words freely, for in every heart he touched
a chord that was ready to vibijate. Not
many hours before, a great majority of his
hearers had followed their old Vicar to the
grave.

At the Vicarage, where the long watch
was over, with all its anxieties and fatigues.

AGAINST HER WILL. , 19S

a silence like that of death itself was
reigning. Mrs. Darcy was utterly worn
out — too much exhausted in mind and body
even to feel acutely. She sat motionless, abook
upon her knee, and her eyes dim with tears,
which slowly gathered, were wiped away,
and gathered again, almost without her con-
sciousness. Nora, also, was in a state of
strange inactivity. There had begun to rise
within her the feeling which was to embitter
her in many days to come — the feeling that
she had lost not only her father, but her
work, her place in the world. She had not
yet expressed this feeling to herself distinctly,
but she was gradually growing nearer to the
recognition of it, and it depressed her un-
awares. She had not gone to the school, nor
shown herself to the old women, who, ac-
cording to Sunday custom, had their dinner
in the Vicarage kitchen ; the threads of
habit, which had got broken, did not
seem worth patching together only to be
snapped a little later. Her life, with its
abtmdant occupation, had been so happy;
she had been used to feel herseK good for so

196 AGAINST HER WILL.

much, — ^it had almost seemed as if the world
of Woodside could not go on without her.
And now it seemed as if her father's death
had been the drawing out of the bolt that
held all the fabric of her life together : all
was confusion, and she did not know what
parts to try to gather up for a fresh com-
mencement. Only one duty remained to her
quite clear and unaltered, and that was her
duty towards her mother. But even here
the sense of helplessness, all the more
bitter for being new, made a misery out of
what would have been a delight ; for what
could she do against the poverty that was
coming ?

It needed no great time or trouble to
calculate the means of living thai were now
left to them. Their whole income would be
£50 a year — ^the inheritance Mrs. Darcy
had received from a godmother. Beside
this, they owned a cottage near the church-
yard gate, and had the furniture and books
at the Vicarage. The cottage, bought some
years back to make an old servant com-
fortable in her last days, was in good order,

AGAINST HER WILL. 197

and a little better, in the matter of accom-
modation, than the ordinary ones of the
neighbourhood. It might be possible to live
in it, if, as Nora anticipated, Mrs. Darcy
decided to stay at Woodside. It would be
easily furnished out of their stores ; but
when what they required had been taken
away, what would the remaining contents of
the Vicarage, old and well worn as every
article was, be worth to sell ?

Nora knew the exact cost of living at
Woodside: she saw that their resources
would not be enough to keep body and soul
together if they depended upon them entirely.
Yet they had to live ; and more than that,
Mrs. Darcy's weakness required care, delicate
food, and warm rooms. The problem to be
s olved then was, how to increase their means.

And this problem so common, and so un-
interesting to all but those forced to solve it,
was one to which she could see no answer.
She was as ready as ever to say, " One must
do one's work," but what was her work now ?
In this quiet hour of self-communing, the
first real bitterness of life came home to her.

iqs against her will.

Labour and sorrow she had known, but it
had been wholesome labour, tender sorrow.
Now, for the first time, she felt, though only
in anticipation, the torment of seeing those
we love better than life in suffering which
we are helpless to relieve.

E se non piaDgi, di che piaDger suoli %

While mother and daughter, sitting silently-
side by side, were given up each to
their own thoughts, the sound of the
front door opening, and of a step in the hall,
roused them at the same moment.

^^ It is Bertie," said Nora ; and she moved
to meet him.

Captain Lansdowne had already been two
or three days at Dean's Hall. He had come
immediately on hearing of the Vicar's death,
and had been Mrs. Darcy's agent in all that
had been done since. He had taken the
office upon him so naturally and so efficiently,
that nobody had doubted for a moment
. whether he was the right person for it. But
his leave was now at an end ; he was to start
for London early next day, and this was his
farewell visit.

AGAINST HER WILL. 199

He sat down beside Mrs. Darcy, and,
taking away from her the book which she
had not been reading, he forced her to talk
to him. After a little while he came to the
special errand with which he was charged.

" My mother is coming to see you to-
morrow," he said, " but she and my uncle
have ordered me to tell you her business
beforehand. She is coming to beg you and
Nora to move to Dean's Hall for a few weeks.
It will be a capital thing for them all,"
he went on quickly, having once broken the
ice. " Nora will do them all the good in the
world ; for they are all devoted to her, you
know, and they want somebody to stir them
up. And there is abundance of room, so
that you can have your own quarters quite
undisturbed, and keep to yourselves when-
ever you like that best. You will come,
won't you?"

"You are all far too good to us as it
is, Bertie," Mrs. Darcy answered, after a
minute^s pause. ^^If we don't accept this
invitation, you may be sure we feel the
kindness all the same."

200 AGAINST HER WILL.

" But you will accept it ? Nora, persuade
your mother to say * Yes/ do. I promised
not to hurry you ; but to-morrow you will
hear what my mother and aunt have to say.
I shall be gone before you see them."

"You go straight to London?" Nora
said, guessing that her mother wished not to
make any hasty decision.

"Yes. I wish Phoebe would have come
down here with me ; but she preferred taking
possession of our house, so she has been
alone all the week. I had a letter from her
this morning, and she sends her best love to
you both, and says she will never forget all
your kindness to her."

"Take our love back to her," Nora
answered. "If we stay in Woodside, I
suppose we shall see her here before long."

" I hope so ; but we both expect you to
pay us a visit by-and-by."

" Thanks ; after this year, perhaps."
Nora's eyes rested on her black dress as
she spoke, but in her heart she had no
special inclination to be Phoebe^s guest.

The talk prolonged itself till the long day

AGAINST HER WILL. 201

was almost ended. In the twilight Bertie
got up to go. As Nora went with him into
the hall, he said, —

"I wish you would come round the
garden with me once more, Nora. You
may have moved from here before I see you
again."

She turned at once, and led the way into
the garden where they had played together
and worked together so often * in the old
days. There was the summer-house which
he and her brothers had built, and where
they had spent many a summer afternoon.
There were the roses they had budded, and
the apple-tree which, when she was quite a
little thing, he had grafted for her, and on
which later he had cut her name.

" I wish I had ever brought Phoebe round
here," he said. ^^She does not seem to
know this dear old garden at all, and so
many of my pleasantest days were spent in
it."

^^I don't think Phoebe cares for gardens,"
Nora answered. ^^She is town-bred, you
know."

202 AGAINST HER WILL.

They parted at the door, and Nora went
back to her mother,

"Mother," she said, presently, "don't
you think it odd that PhcBbe let Bertie come
down here without her ? "

AGAINST HER WILL. 203

CHAPTER XIV.

Before Mrs, Lansdowne and Miss Norton
paid their visit to the Vicarage, Mrs. Darcy
and Nora had fully discussed and settled the
question of going to Dean's Hall. Their
decision was against it, and that for several
reasons.

^^ I believe we are allowed to remain here
for a few weeks," Mrs. Darcy said, looking
sadly round upon the old home; "and we
shall bo freer to make our arrangements
here than we should anywhere else."

"I would rather not have two or three
weeks of ease and leisure between the old
life and the new," Nora said. "But,
mother, you might go. I think it would be
good for you, if you could do without me
for a little while."

204 AGAINST HER WILL.

Mrs. Darcy answered by taking fast hold
of her daughter's hand.

" I can't do without you, my child. I am
a dreadful coward, but just now I feel as if
I could not spare you out of my sight."

This talk led them a step further. They
spoke of the possibility of leaving Woodside ;
but it was so evident that to tear Mrs.
Darcy from the graves of her husband and
children would be to renew most cruelly the
griefs of her life, that Nora at once and com-
pletely set herself against the idea. Wher-
ever Mrs. Darcy was, Nora must be also ;
that was not to be questioned. What
remained was, therefore, that they should
establish themselves in the Church Cottage,
as it was called.

Their arrangements for the present went
no further than this; but when the ladies
from Dean's Hall arrived, they found so
much fully settled, and were obliged to
give up their own schemes in favour of
their friends'.

" Nora, my dear," said Miss Norton,
*Hhis is the second time you have disap-

AGAINST HER WILL, 205

pointed me ; and I assure you I feel it. If
you had persuaded your mother to come,
she would have done it."

^^ Indeed, Miss Norton, I did try to per-
suade her to go to you," Nora answered;
" and as for the other time, that really was
not my fault, you know."

"No! well, indeed, my dear, I hope it
was not. Ah, the stupidity of men ! They
are all alike, every one; not a pin to
choose."

The report carried home by his sisters
brought Mr. Norton to the Vicarage.

"I am heartily sorry," he said to Mrs.
Darcy, " that you will not come to us. We
would have tried to make you comfortable,
and every week you stayed would have
been an additional pleasure ; but, since you
have decided for the cottage, we must say
no more. However, I hope you will not
refuse to let us help about your moving ; so
I walked down to ask you to let me go over
the place for you, and see that it is
thoroughly in repair, chimneys and doors
in order, and so on.''

<

206 AGAINST HER WILL.

This was not an offer to be refused ; and
when Nora went to the cottage on Tuesday
afternoon to make a thorough inspection of
it for herself, she found two or three of Mr.
Norton's men hard at work, and Mr. Norton
himself superintending.

^^ Ah, Nora," he said, when he saw her,
^' you should not have come yet; but, since
you are here, come and give us your opinion."

She saw at once that he had taken her
mother's permission in its fullest sense, and
that if their new dwelling was not
weather-tight, and faultless on the score of
chimneys and drains, it would not be for
want of trouble spent on it. They went all
through it together, and then into the garden,
where the Dean's Hall gardener was busy,
with one of his aids, digging, pruning, and
arranging, to get the little space into the
nicest possible order.

*^ How good you all are to us ! " she said,
gratefully, as they turned back towards the
cottage. " I am so glad we are to stay
among our old friends."

"What would the parish do without you ?"

AGAINST HER WILL. 207

Mr. Norton said, smiling. "I think we are
all bound to do what we can to keep you
among us.''

But these last kind words sent Nora away-
saddened again. What had she to do with
the parish now ? The new Vicar would do
all she had been used to do; perhaps she
should have to watch the upsetting of all the
plans she and her mother had devised and
carried out. Even if the new ones were
better, Nora did not yet feel heroic enough
to be inclined to rejoice over them.

Though the family at Dean's Hall had
been most prominent among the friends
whom Mr. Darcy's illness and death had
gathered round his wife and daughter, they
had been so more from circumstances than
from zeal. The Bennetts, also, had been on
the watch to do any possible service; and,
most unexpectedly, it was from Mrs. Bennett
that Nora was to receive the substantial help
which was to make life at the cottage really
practicable.

Two or three days had passed ; the new
house was nearly ready for them, and the

AGAINST HER WILL.

thought how to provide money to eke out
their living had come to be a daQy and
nightly spectre haunting Nora's consciousness,
when one morning, as she came out of the
Vicarage gate, she met Mrs. Bennett
coming in, and, altogether contrary to her
custom, alone. She proposed turning back,
but Mrs. Bennett said, " No ; if you don't
mind walking up and down here for a few
minutes, that would be best ; for I want to
speak to you alone."

This sounded mysterious; and, as they
turned and walked slowly along the broad
churchyard path, the mystery did not seem
inclined to solve itself. Mrs. Bennett began
to talk of the terrible loss Mariana was to her,
and then of the infinite trouble she had with
her children.

" I never knew," she said, " until Mariana
went what a plague a houseful of children
could be. She could manage them. Poor
Clara does her best ; but either she wants the
talent, or she is too near their own age, or
something, — ^they mind her no more than
the chairs and tables do. They are not bad

AGAINST HER WILL. 2cc)

children," she continued, **nor stupid, I
believe, but they'll never learn anything
with Clara ; that's certain."

^* The boys are rather big for Clara," Nora
said, not knowing what to say.

^^ Yes ; quite too big. 13ut Johnny and
George are going to school. That is
settled. They go to Sunbury on the first of
next month."

^* Then there are only Jenny, Kate, and
Gertie in the school-room," said Nora.

^^ That's all. But Jenny will not learn
with Clara. Poor Clara is in despair ; and
you must blame her, my dear, and Mr.
Bennett, if I am doing wrong."

'^ I don't see anything to blame either of
them for," said Nora, more and more puzzled.

'' Well, my dear, it is just this. We
thought that perhaps, after doing so much as
you have always done, you might find a good
deal of time on your hands now, and that
perhaps you would not mind — as I know you
get on so well with children, and I 'm sure
mine are as fond of you — and we don't like
the idea of having a strange governess — "

VOL. I. p

210 AGAINST HER WILL.

^^Do you mean that you would trust me
to teach the children ? '' cried Nora, a light
suddenly breaking in upon her.

^^ We shall be only too glad," answered
Mrs. Bennett, enormously relieved at having
got it said.

^^But I never was at school. I don't
know what things girls learn. You know
papa taught me just as he fancied."

^^ My dear, I was at school ten years. I
got all sorts of prizes. Why, I have three
copies of ' Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy '
at home now, all bound in blue and gold ;
there 's one of them on the drawing-room
table, you know. And when I was married
I could not keep a housekeeping' book ! For
the first six months Mr. Bennett was obliged
to look over my accounts regularly every
week, and one week I had entered the butter
as costing 155. a pound ! "

^*I think I can keep accounts," Nora
laughed. ^* The parish has taught me that,
at any rate."

^^ Mr. Bennett says," Mrs. Bennett went
on, *Hhat if he thought his girls would

A GAINST HER WILL. 2 1 1

grow up like you, he should be quite satis-
fied. But indeed, my dear, less would satisfy
me : I have no wish that they should learn
Latin and Greek."

^^I don't know any Greek," said Nora,
meekly, ^^ and not very much Latin."

^^Well, you'll think about it, then,"
added Mrs. Bennett, ^^and let me know.
Oh, dear, so like me ! I was quite forget-
ting — about two or three hours out of your
morning, my dear, Mr. Bennett thought;
and perhaps about £50 a year, if you
liked it. And if you don't like it,'' she
wound up in a great hurry, ^^you need say
nothing to anybody, XDe shan't, you may
be sure." With this and a hurried ^^ Good-
bye," the kind woman hurried off.

Whether she guessed what a lightened
heart she had left behind her, Nora could
not tell, but she thought it most probable.
Here, in fact, was the plank at which
she was ready, thankfully, to grasp. This
doubling of their tiny income would make
it possible for her mother and herself to live
undivided. She had, of course, not a

212 AGAINST HER WILL,

moment's hesitation, herself, about accepting
the proposal ; but she must hear her mother's
opinion before giving Mrs. Bennett an
answer. She felt that othfer business might
wait, and went back into the house to relate
what had happened.

An aspect of the aflfair which had not
struck Nora was the first to present itself to
Mrs. Darcy. '^ Your father's daughter a
governess!" she said, in dismay. Nora,
with all her practical knowledge and sense,
was singularly simple ; for she had wanted
money, and her heart had leaped at the
prospect of earning it. She had utterly
forgotten, till this moment, the degradation
attached to that word '' governess." There
had never been, within the memory of man,
a governess in Woodside, — it was pretty
nearly an unknown species ; and Nora was
staggered for a moment. After that moment,
however, when she had turned the matter
rapidly over in her mind, she said, " I can't
see any very great harm. I should make a
better shopwoman or cook; but neither
shopwoman nor cook is wanted in Wood-

-M« «^«^M«iPaOTi

AGAINST HER WILL. 213

side. I'd rather be a governess than
starve."

The faintest dawn of a smile gleamed on
Mrs. Darcy's face.

^*I am afraid/' she said, ^^ that you for-
get you are the great-granddaughter of an
earl."

^^ Much good that has done me," answered
Nora, laughing outright. '^ It would count
for something in a begging letter, no doubt ;
but we are not come to that yet. And,
indeed, mother," she added more gravely,
^^I do not see why I should not teach the
little Bennetts, and be just the same Nora
Darcy as ever, if you don't object."

It seemed that nothing better could be
done or suggested. Mrs. Darcy owned that
on her, as well as on Nora, the idea of their
necessities had been pressing heavily.

^^ So heavily," she said, " that I believe I
should have put pride in my pocket, and
written to some of your father's relations, if
I had not remembered that last letter of his
unanswered, unacknowledged."

''Dear mother," cried Nora, with a

214 AGAINST HER WILL.

shudder, ^^how thankful I am that you did
not write. I think the first morsel of bread
that came from their hands would choke
me. No, no; let me work, let me do
anything that is honest, and fit for a decent
girl to do, rather than look for charity.
What can there be half so degrading as
that ? "

The evening closed more cheerfully than
any one had done since the sad day of
Bertie's marriage. Nora wrote to Mrs.
Bennett gratefully accepting her proposal,
and only asking leave to defer her work
until the move to the cottage should be over,
and mother and daughter were able to face
their future with some hope and thankful-
ness.

AGAINST HER WILL. 215

CHAPTER XV.

Nevee was any arrival anticipated with less
good will than that of the new Vicar to
Woodside. Somehow, people regarded him
less as the successor of the dead than as the
supplanter of the living : it was '^ Miss Nora "
whose cure of souls he was coming to
undertake. Not a friendly eye was turned
upon him when he made his appearance.
^^Ah, poor dear!" said the old women to
each other, as they looked at the pew where
Nora sat beside her mother.

Yet the new Vicar was the most kindly
and inoffensive of human beings. He was
quite new to the care of a parish ; but he
intended to do his duty thoroughly. Certain
words of George Herbert were in his mind,

2i6 AGAINST HER WILL.

and commended themselves to him as a rule
of life : — " The country parson is in God's
stead to his parish, and dischargeth God
what he can of his promises. Wherefore
tliere is nothing done, either well or ill,
whereof he is not the rewarder or punisher."
He was unmarried, and meant to remain so,
both because he was shy of women, and
because he believed a single life more fitted
for a clergyman. He had no extreme views,
and was an excellent scholar, if not quite
of so refined and critical a type as Mr.
Darcy.

All this should have satisfied his new
parishioners — and would have satisfied them,
probably, if reason had had anything to do
with the matter.

'^ He is a nice gentleman, I dare say ; but
what do he know about us ? " said one.

*' What do any gentleman know about your
aches and pains? " rejoined another. '^ Ah,
Miss Nora was the one ! "

'' Why should not Miss Nora do the
same as she has always done ? " somebody
asked.

A GAINST HER WILL. 2 1 7

^^ Lord bless us ! how can you be so
foolish ? Don't you remember how she
always said, ' Papa says this ' or ' the Vicar
thinks that ' ? It was his reverence, poor
man, that she worked for ; and do you think
it would be manners for a young lady to be
going about the parish helping a strange
gentleman ? "

*^He won't want no help," grumbled a
fresh speaker. ^^ He '11 be poking himself
into our houses just like the parsons at Sun-
bury — you see if he won't ; and, ten to one,
he '11 be asking a many more questions than
you '11 care to answer."

There was no doubt that the parish was
hostile ; not actively hostile, but passively so,
with that slow, impenetrable weight of pre-
judice which belongs pre-eminently to the
agricultural mind. At the Vicar's first circuit
among the cottagers, he found everywhere
a laborious civility, and, as he thought, a
dense stupidity, which sent him home horribly
tired and dismayed. He could not compre-
hend how those women who had received
him with such curtseys, and offered him a

2i8 AGAINST HER WILL,

newly dusted chair with such a good grace,
had managed to send him away so entirely
without information, and so distinctly im-
pressed with the idea that he was unwelcome.
He was, by that time, established in the
Vicarage. He had shown himself most
courteous to the widow of his predecessor,
doing everything in his power to make her
removal as little painful as possible, and,
indeed, being of real service to her by buy-
ing almost the whole of Mr. Darcy's library
as it stood, and also the furniture she did not
intend taking to the cottage. Mr. Bennett,
who had arranged these matters, spoke
highly in praise of him ; and Mrs. Darcy,
who had, as yet, only seen him in church,
was thankful the living seemed to have
fallen into such good hands. She and Nora
were both looking forward a little nervously
to his first visit. School themselves as they
might, it was hard to see a new man in the
pulpit where Mr. Darcy had preached for so
many years ; and, in addition to this, Nora
could not help feeling rather like a dethroned
<jueen. She almost hoped Mr. Piers would

AGAIXSI' HER WILL. 219

call on her mother while she was away,
yet she would have been sorry to miss him.
She now went every day to Mrs. Bennett's,
and had begun to get her work there well in
hand. After mid-day she was at home,
and she and her mother were quietly sitting
together on the afternoon of Mr. Piers's
second Monday in Woodside, when he
knocked at the cottage- door, and was shown
by Betty into the sitting-room.

It cannot be said that he came in either
easily or gracefully, for he did not hear
Betty's ^^ Mind the step, sir ! " and con-
sequently floundered into the little room,
stumbling so that his hat flew out of his
hand, and rolled under the table. It was
difficult not to laugh, but the accident was,
perhaps, rather lucky than otherwise; for,
seeing their visitor in the depths of con-
fusion, both Mrs. Darcy and Nora forgot
whatever might have made his visit painful,
and thought only of setting him at ease.

There could hardly have been a greater
physical unlikeness than between the old
Vicar and the new. Mr. Piers was a tall

V

220 AGAINST HER WILL.

man, well made, but rather too stout for hi&
thirty-five years; he had a fair, pleasant
face, light brown hair and whiskers, loose
limbs, and a hand which seemed as plump
and boneless as a baby's. In manner there
was an equal dissimilarity. Mr. Darcy had
always retained the manner of his youth —
that of a high-bred, somewhat old-fashioned
man of the world. Mr. Piers had all the
shyness of a recluse, and was as incapable of
making talk as of squaring the circle.
Moreover, though he had now been nearly a
fortnight in Woodside, he knew nothing
whatever of the manner in which the parish
affairs had been formerly administered, and
did not guess that there was not a man,
woman, or child within his spiritual domain
whose character one or other of these two
women could not have laid open to him.

He did not know ; and it would not only
have astonished, but perhaps a little scan-
dalized him, if he had been told. This was
a man's work, a priest's work, he would
have said ; not to be trusted to a woman, far
less to a girl.

*^

AGAINST HER WILL. 221

He admired Mrs. Darcy; the singular
sweetness of her smile, her eyes still bright
with the purest light of intelligence and
goodness, the kindness and grace of her
manner, impressed him strongly. "A most
charming woman ! " he would have said, if
he had had any intimate friend to say it to.
But Nora was a mere cipher to him; by
the time he got back to the Vicarage he was
almost as unconscious of her existence as he
had been two hours before.

He was going to dine at Dean's Hall that
day ; and it was at Dean's Hall that there
was first conveyed to him the very slightest
idea of the importance of the late Vicar's
daughter.

^^You have made acquaintance with the
Darcys, I think ? " Mr. Norton said to him,
when they were alone after dinner.

^ ^ Yes ; I called on Mrs. Darcy this after-
noon. I did not go sooner, because, though
we had had some business correspondence, I
thought she might feel it a little painful to
see me."

" She is quite a woman to understand

222 AGAINST HER WILL,

your consideration and to deserve it," said
Mr. Norton.

" I am sure she is," Mr. Piers answered,
as warmly as it was in his nature to speak to
a stranger.

" I have never, in my whole life," con-
tinued Mr. Norton, ^^met with another
woman as simply, and honestly, and con-
sistently good as Mrs. Darcy. Was Nora at
home when you called ? "

'' Miss Darcy ? — yes."

^^ What did you think of her, if that is
a fair question ? "

'' Really, I don't know that it is," Mr.
Piers answered, with some embarrassment.
'^ I know so very little about young ladies.
I don't think she can have spoken much — "

He was so evidently at a loss, that Mr.
Norton could not help laughing.

^^ Never mind," he said; ^^ you'll know
her in time. But, if you take my advice,
you will not let anybody else know that you
have not made acquaintance with the best,
prettiest, and cleverest girl in Woodside."

If Nora had produced no effect upon tha

AGAINST HER WILL. 223-

new Vicar, so much could not be said as to
the result of his visit in her mind. He was
no sooner out of the gate than she dropped
her work, and, covering her face with her
hands, cried out, — " Oh, mother, mother,
mother ! why was not I a man ? "

'^ ' That Heaven had made me such a
man ! ' do you mean ? " said Mrs. Darcy,
laughing. ^

^' No, indeed. Did you ever see anything
so limp ? "

'^ His hand is ^ limp,' I must confess; but
he is not required to work with his
hands."

'^ And his way of talking — the slow, soft
manner in which the words come out, as if
they didn't quite know their way, and were
afraid of intruding where they weren't
wanted. '^

'^ He is evidently very shy; but I rather
like him."

"Well, then, I have no more to say.
But, mother, you must confess that he is
likely to have a hard time of it with some
of our dear people. Fancy an encounter

224 AGAINST HER WILL.

between him and Mrs. Joyce, or Betty
Higgs, in one of her deaf humours ! "

Nora's anticipations were even more cor-
rect than she guessed ; and poor Mr. Piers
found his first round of pastoral visits sur-
passed in difficulty and disagreeableness by
those which followed. Armed neutrality
was the mildest position assumed towards
him by the cottagers. They were enjoying
all the ease and abundance of harvest-time ;
they wanted nothing from the Vicar at the
present moment, and, not being provident
enough to consider that winter would come
by-and-by, and make his good will essential
to some of them, they saw no reason for
suppressing the dislike they had taken to
him. His manner was certainly unfavour-
able. There is nothing country folks dislike
more than the look and manner Nora had
called ^' limp." They will be perfectly
tolerant of anybody who " enjoys bad
health," — indeed, bad health is rather a dis-
tinction, and Mr. Darcy had profited, not
lost, by the reputation of it; but, if people
are well, they expect them to be vigorous.

AGAINST HER WILL. 225

^^ I could a took and shook him," Mrs.
Joyce, who was a strong-minded woman,
said to one of her neighbours. " He 's just
like our old clock, as has got something
wrong o' the inside ; and when it comes to
twelve o'clock, you'd think 'twas a-going
to take all the rest of the day to strike.
Dreadful aggravatin' 'tis. Well, I do assure
you, he sat there and talked for half an
hour, ding dong, ding dong, slower than the
clock, and a deal less to the purpose."

" Ah, he talks to the purpose sometimes,
though," said the neighbour. " Did you
hear of Betty Higgs, how she answered
him? She had not been to church two
Sundays ; so he goes to see her, and says
he, ' You' weren't at church last Sunday ? '
says he. ' No, sir, I wasna,' says she. ' Nor
the Sunday before ? ' says he. ^ No, sir,' says
she: ^I'm rather deaf,' says she. ^You
should come to church all the same,' says he.
' It 's no good my coming when I can't
hear,' says she. ' Oh, yes, it is,' says he ;
' but if you can't hear in church, I '11 come
and read to you at home.' ' Much obliged,'

VOL. I. Q

226 AGAINST HER WILL.

says she ; ^ but I can read to mysen. And
I tell your reverence, plainly, it 's no good
coming here; for I wonna be druv to
heaven.' "

Somehow, in the course of the next week
or two, the news of this encounter between
the new Vicar and Betty Higgs reached
Nora's ears, and made her very imcomfort-
able. She had at once and completely given
up her rounds among the poor. At first,
when she had left the Vicarage, and lost the
practical control of the parish charities, she
had had a pang of mortified pride, which
had inclined her to say, " I can do no more
for them ; why should I go among them ? "
But this humour had soon passed away.
Two other causes had kept her back: one
was, that she and Mrs. Darcy were agreed in
thinking that the Vicar ought to be left free
to "work" the parish as he thought best;
the other that, after her three hours' absence
each morning, she was unwilling again to
leave her mother alone in the afternoon.
But now, when she had seen what manner
of man the Vicar wats, and how unlikely to

AGAINST HER WILL. 227

make head against unpopularity, and when
rumours began to reach her which suggested
that a sort of loyalty to herself was mixed
with the perverseness of old Betty and her
friends, she could not help getting fidgety
and impatient.

Autumn was by this time near its end.
Woodside, which had been in its greatest
beauty a week or two back, now began to
look dreary enough. The lanes were leaf-
strewn and damp; the Vicarage garden,
little cared for of late, was full of masses of
sodden and decaying foliage, and the great
beeches which grew along one side of it
strewed it from end to end with showers of
faded yellow. When the Vicar came out of
his study, where the gloomy rows of books
had not the familiar faces of old friends, and
strolled into the once-cheerful drawing-room,
he felt that he had but gone from bad to worse.
He was not a sociable man ; but he was
tolerably alive to exterior impressions, and
he began to regret the comforts of his college
rooms, as well as the more satisfying routine
of his former work. He regretted, but he

228 AGAINST HER WILL.

had no thought of trying to regain what he
had lost. He had wedded his parish, and
would make the best of it ; though, like
some other weddings, it seemed likely to
turn out more of a plague than a blessing.

He had, by this time, paid a second and
third visit to the cottage; but once Mrs.
Darcy was out, and once other visitors were
present, so that no talk of much interest had
taken place. He had also met Mrs. Darcy
and Nora at Dean's Hall, — for with such
dear and intimate friends they continued
their old habits of visiting ; and had just
so far opened his eyes as to see for himself
that Miss Darcy was a pretty girl — a little
too quick and decided in manner for his
taste, but, nevertheless, very like her mother,
whom he admired heartily. He saw more
of Mr. Norton than of anybody else ; and as
perplexities increased upon him, and he
foimd that, instead of making acquaintance
with the mass of his parishioners, he was
held more and more steadily at bay, he at
last resolved to speak to him on the subject.

The answer, which a quicker-witted man

AGAINST HER WILL. 229

would weeks ago have anticipated, fell upon
him totally unprepared and amazed,

^^ If you find difficulties with any of the
people, young or old, you can't do better
than consult Nora Darcy . She has managed
the parish — or, at any rate, the poor of the
parish — for three or four years ; and I ami
' sure she will help you with all her heart."

230 AGAINST HER WILL.

CHAPTER XVI.

Pride as priest, and pride as man, were both
revolted. Consult Nora Darcy ! — the thing
sounded absurd. And yet it was prescribed
as a sure way out of difficulties which he felt
himself unable to overcome. He walked
home thoughtfully, little inclined to follow
the prescription. But as he sat over his
solitary dinner, certain words came into his
mind, — ^' If he had bidden thee do some
great thing, wouldst thou not have done
it?"

Gradually his mood began to change,
" Whatever Miss Darcy did," he said to
himself, ^^ she must have done under her
father's directions ; and no doubt Mrs. Darcy
can tell me what his plans and ideas were.

AGAINST HER WILL. 231

But there is no trace of any organization
whatever, that I can see. However, I will
go and see Mrs. Darcy to-morrow."

Next day he arrived at the cottage about
twelve o'clock ; and, with many apologies
for an early visit, told Mrs. Darcy, with a
frankness which was in the matter of his
speech, but certainly not in the manner, that
being altogether unused to dealing with the
class of farm-labourers and their wives, he
found himself puzzled how to win, their
confidence, and that he hoped she would
have the kindness to let him profit by her
experience.

Mrs. Darcy smiled, and said it would be
a real satisfaction to her to be of service to
him ; but that, having been an invalid for
some years, her own acquaintance among
the people was small. " But my daughter,"
she added, '^ has grown up among them, and
knows everybody. She can tell you all
about them."

'^ But the system of visiting, of adminis-
tering the charities, and so on ? " stammered
the Vicar.

232 AGAINST HER WILL,

" I hope the books and other accounts
reached you safely ? " said Mrs. Darcy, in
some alarm.

'^Yes, oh yes; but they are very little
help."

*^ Nora knows all better than I do," Mrs.
Darcy went on. " The parish being small,
and happily free either from great wicked-
ness or great poverty, we always trusted
more to personal friendliness with the people,
for guidance in helping them, than to any-
thing else. They will beg a good deal in
winter ; but, when you know them, you will
be able to judge who really wants and who
does not."

" They seem determined I shall not know
them," said the Vicar; and rose in some
bitterness to take leave.

Mrs. Darcy had watched him carefully,
and was sorry for him.

" You think it strange," she said, " that I
should refer you to a girl like my daughter.
It is not her fault, however, if she has been
forced into a position unsuited to her years,
but that of circumstances. Meanwhile, if

AGAINST HER WILL. 233

she has the knowledge and experience which
would be useful to you, why not take advan-
tage of them ? Forgive my plain speaking :
I, at any rate, am an old woman."

" I am quite ashamed of myself," the
Vicar said, his conscience loudly responding
to Mrs. Darcy's words. " I will come and
learn himibly and thankfully. When shall
I find Miss Darcy at home ? "

" Almost any afternoon. If it were not
an unwarrantable interference with dinner,
I would ask you to come and share our tea
to-morrow."

*^I will come with pleasure; and then,
perhaps. Miss Darcy will explain to me,
among other things, the character of a
dreadful old woman, called Betty Higgs."

Mrs. Darcy laughed, and they parted the
best of friends.

As Mr. Piers walked home, he felt more
satisfied with himself than he had done for
some time. He had found out what he was
assured was the way out of his difficulty,
and he had made up his mind to plunge
into it ; but he forgot, in the excitement of

234 AGAINST HER WILL,

■■ - - _i II - — - — ■

the moment, the thorny hedge of his own
shyness which he still had to get over.

He had, perhaps, never exchanged a dozen
sentences with a young lady in his life ; and
however practical and experienced Nora
might be, her youth and prettiness were
qualities far too much en evidence for him to
lose sight of again. As the time for his visit to
the cottage drew near, his resolution melted,
and his cDmfort slipped out of his posses-
sion he did not know how. It was well for
him that Mrs. Darcy knew beforehand what
was wanted, for he was nearly tongue-tied
when the moment for talk arrived.

The days were already cold, and it was
pleasant to draw round the blazing wood
fire, which filled the humble little room with
its dancing light. Mrs. Darcy, knitting in
hand, leaned back in her easy-chair. Nora,
opposite to her, also held some scrap of
work; while the Vicar, between them,
conscious of the comfort, but yet himself
uncomfortable, hesitated whether to speak
or to get up and fly.

Mrs. Darcy, however, came to the rescue.

AGAINST HER WILL. 23s

She found out skilfully what he chiefly wanted
to know. She guessed which of their neigh-
bours was likely to have been most unap-
proachable. She drew Nora into talk so
animated and so practical, that the fact of her
being a young lady did cease to impre^ss Mr.
Piers, and he questioned, answered, argued,
and disagreed as comfortably as if she had
bfeen a man. Having nursed matters to this
satisfactory point, she let them alone. The
Vicar had entirely forgotten himself, and
showed his honest desire to do his work,
Nora had forgotten both herself and him (no
very difficult matter for her), and, delighted
to talk of what interested her so much, gave
him portrait after portrait, hint after hint.
Time flew ; and when the church clock struck
ten, they started out of their talk like
people suddenly awakened.

When the Vicar went home, he said to
himself, ^^ There are exceptions to every
rule. A practical woman, like Miss Darcy,
who has both shrewdness and long training,
would be a real help in a country parish."

It will be seen by this that Nora's trouble-

236 AGAINST HER WILL.

some personality had been, in the last few
hours, fairly effaced from Mr. Piers's mind.
She might have been, as far as he was
concerned at this minute, a hard-featured
maiden lady of fifty.

Very slowly and insensibly, but still really,
the Vicar's unpopularity melted away after
the alKance thus formed. Mrs. Darcy
advised Nora to go to see some of the people,
and to let it be known that the present
Vicar and the family of the late one were
allied and not rival powers. Nora took, of
her own will, the further step of giving
old Betty Higgs what she called ^^a good
talking to " on the subject of incivility ;
and by-and-by Betty and her neighbours
found out that, if they cared to please Miss
Nora, they must seem at least well disposed
towards Mr. Piers. They showed themselves
very quick, after all, in taking in this idea ;
and probably it was the Woodside old
women who first conceived the further one
(far enough yet from either of the principals)
that the Vicar's daughter might once again
reign over them as the Vicar's wife. At

AGAINST HER WILL. 237

any rate, when they had once made up
their minds to think the best, instead of
the worst, of the new comer, things went
on very much more pleasantly. They could
not quite forgive him his shy, hesitating
manner, nor the want of physical energy
about him. " He 's a poor, nesh creature,"
they still said, with a touch of contempt ;
but they found out that he was ready to
take any amount of trouble for them, that
he was liberal in gifts, and much more
easily imposed upon than Nora had ever
been, and they resolved to make the best
of it.

AVhile these revolutions and counter-revo-
lutions were going on, the last months of
the year slipped away. It was now six
months since Mariana Bennett's marriage;
and, as is so often the case, that change
had seemed to be the signal for a perfect
uprooting of the preceding state of things.
Mariana was now settled in her Canadian
home. Week by week long letters came,
full of stories of her new life, of the country,
which both she and Alick were beginning

238 AGAINST HER WILL.

to think delightful ; and of their home,
which she was trying to make, in all possible
ways, just such a one as they might have
had in England. Week by week long letters
went after her, with all the news of Wood-
side. She knew that Nora had taken her
place in the school-room, and that the new
Vicar had had a fight for influence in the
parish which was not yet over.

The Bennett household flourished. Clara,
relieved from the task of teaching, was often
away from home, and delighted in her own
importance as eldest daughter. Mrs. Bennett
praised everything Nora did, or proposed
doing; and Mr. Bennett declared that the
'' Middle Ages " were becoming civilized
under her rule.

The Pritchards, since Phoebe left them,
had settled back into the enjoyment of that
solitude d deux which was so dear to them.
Her short stay in their household seemed to
have left no trace behind. If they spoke of
her, it was with a calm confidence in her pre-
sent apd future well being, which was the very
antipodes of solicitude. Her short and rare

AGAINST HER WILL. 239

letters satisfied them fully; and they had
no very strong desire that she should visit
Woodside.

At Dean's Hall it was very different. A
vague uneasiness had stolen into that cheer-
ful household. Mrs. Lansdowne complained
to Mrs. Darcy that Bertie's letters were
shorter than they used to be, and that
Phoebe never wrote at all. Miss Norton had
quite given up her hard sayings d propos of
her nephew, and was apt to call him '' our
poor Bertie." Mr. Norton had spent a few
days in London, and came back looking
harassed. After he came back, there was
some talk of a visit from the young people,
but they never came. Even Mrs. Darcy
and Nora were without any positive infor-
mation ; but they began to understand that,
in the opinion of Dean's Hall, Bertie's
marriage had not been perfectly satisfac-
tory. He wrote to Mrs. Darcy pretty regu-
larly, and sometimes to Nora; and when
they had begun to look for indications of
uneasiness in his letters, they found them
readily enough. At first he had spoken of

240 AGAINST HER WILL.

the effect of Phoebe's beauty among his
friends, and his pride in her had been
evident in every line. By degrees, he gave
unconscious hints that she had an immense
appetite for amusement; home, which was
to have been a paradise to him with her,
was evidently not a paradise to her with
him. Later, he spoke of coming to Wood-
side ; but it ended in, ^^ I cannot leave Phoebe
alone." Yet he had left her alone, by her
own choice, when they had been but one
month married; it hardly seemed likely,
therefore, that it was her will which kept
him with her now.

Nora did not know what to think about
her old playfellow, but she had really little
time for mere thinking about anything.
Mrs. Darcy, in spite of her courage, had
suffered severely from grief, and also physi-
cally, from the change of residence and
circumstances. The Vicarage had been no
luxurious abode, but it had contained many
comforts unattainable in the cottage; and,
do what she could, Nora found it impossible
to make one hundred pounds a year provide

AGAINST HER WILL, 241

many delicacies for an invalid's table. Life
was very hard to both mother and daughter
as the winter drew on ; it seemed to Nora
that she could not be the girl who had been
so light-hearted a year ago.

In the beginning of November, just after
Mr. Piers had reconciled himself to the
thought of a feminine counsellor, the letter
they had given up looking for arrived at the
cottage. The post at Woodside was rather
late, and not particularly regular; letters,
when they did come, often arrived after
Nora was gone to her pupils. One day,
coming in soon after twelve o'clock as usual,
she found an immense square envelope lying
on her mother's work-table.

' ' There is a letter I received this morn-
ing," said Mrs. Darcy. " Read it, and tell
me what you think."

Nora drew out of the envelope a letter
written on paper which resembled parch-
ment, and bore printed on it, in gold, the
coronet of the Earls of Stanmore. The
writing was so like her father's that it
almost startled her, and she read, with

VOL. I. B

242 AGAINST HER WILL.

an interest which cooled as she went
on: —

"Madam, — On my return from a pro-
longed and somewhat unsettled residence
abroad, I found awaiting me the notification
of the death of my cousin, your late hus-
band, and also a letter from him, written,
as I see by the date, within a few weeks of
his death. The letter is ahnost unintelli-
gible, giving a very painful impression of
his feeble condition of mind and body when
he wrote it; but I understand it to be
intended to convey to me his fears of
leaving you and his (I imagine) only sur-
viving child unprovided for. In spite of
the long and entire separation of my cousin
from his family, the news of his death comes
to me almost as a claim on my assistance ;
but mean time I am totally unacquainted
with his pecuniary circumstances. As I
should be sorry that his daughter, my young
relative, should be reduced to poverty, I
shall certainly consider it my duty to settle
some small amount upon her, if you tliink
proper to furnish me with particulars of her

AGAINST HER WILL. 243

and your present position. — ^I am, madam^
though personally a stranger to you,

" Yours sincerely,

" Stanmore."

A moment's silence followed the reading,
and at last Mrs. Darcy was the first to
speak.

^' Remember that we don't know him at
all, nor he us : neither of us is in the least
qualified to judge of the other. He, per-
haps, intended to show us all reasonable
kindness."

"Eandness, mother!" Nora cried, with
red cheeks and flashing eyes. ^^Lest a
Darcy should beg or steal, he will throw her
a few pence to buy bread! And in what
way does he treat you f "

The answering colour which rose to Mrs.
Darcy's pale face showed that she had felt
the blow aimed at herself, but she would not
own it.

^^ Your father's family," she said, "made
up their minds from the first that I was an
improper wife for him. They never saw

24i AGAINST HER WILL.

I I ■ II ■!■ Ill ■ ■ - —I ■ **

me, and their dislike had really nothing to
do with me personally. Do not be more
angry on my account than there is occasion
to be."

Nora threw her arms round her mother,
and kissed her passionately. " Your enemies
are my enemies," she said.

" I have no enemies, my dear. But we
had better leave this letter to be discussed
later," answered Mrs. Darcy, with a smile.

AGAINST HER WILL. 245

CHAPTER XVII.

Once or twice in the course of the next week
something was said of Lord Stanmore's
letter ; but the more Nora thought of it, the
more impossible it seemed to her that she
could ever hold out her hand to receive the
gifts of those who had treated her mother
as an intruder, and herself as a beggar.
Yet she could not hide from herself, that a
time was perhaps coming, when she would
be driven to such straits as to make help
from some quarter a vital necessity. The
utmost care and skill just enabled her, at
present, to keep the wolf from the door ; but
she knew that any illness of Mrs. Darcy,
by making her unable to leave home,
would cut off half their supplies and bring
terrible trouble upon her. When she thought
of this, she tried to persuade herself that the

246 AGAINST HER WILL.

letter must be answered with becoming
humility ; but she never brought herself to
this point without a sudden reaction, and a
furious fit of anger against the monsters of
injustice, she considered her cousins to be.
Thus time slipped on, and no answer was
sent, until at last, with a certain satisfaction,

•

Nora could say, both to herself and Mrs.
Darcy, that it was too late. She did not
know, however, all the anxious thoughts her
mother had bestowed on the same subject,
nor how different trains of feeling had
brought them both to the same conclusion.
Mrs. Darcy, in fact, had for once acted without
Nora's knowledge or assent ; and this was
what she had done. She had written two
or three civil lines to Lord Stanmore, saying
that, for the present, no help was necessary ;
she then sent for Mr. Bennett, her faithful
adviser in all business matters, and showed
him the letters. " I will not answer it fully,"
she said, ^^ without Nora's consent, and that
I feel sure I shall not have. But I want
you to promise to write to Lord Stanmore in
my name, as soon as I am dead.''

AGAINST HER WILL. 247

Mr. Bennett tried to remonstrate.

" I shall not die any the sooner for speak-
ing of it," she answered quietly. "I am
sure you must often have occasion to tell
people that, in reference to their wills. This
is my will, of which I want you to be
executor."

" I will do whatever you wish," said Mr.
Bennett.

^^ Please do this, then. As soon as I am
dead, write to Lord Stanmore, tell him
shortly, how Nora and I have lived since
her father's death, and how she is left. Ask
nothing from him, but let him have the
chance of renewing his offer, if he chooses."

Mr. Bennett promised ; and of this com-
pact Nora knew nothing. Nor did even
Mr. Bennett know that Mrs. Darcy's
conviction that her life was near its close
had led her to make it.

Christmas came near. To Nora's surprise,
Mrs. Darcy seemed to grow stronger in
health and spirits as the winter deepened.
The weather, though very cold, was dry and
fine, and a few hardy flowers still lingered

248 AGAINST HER WILL.

in the gardens. The little Bennetts were to
have a whole month's holiday, and Nora
meant to do a thousand things during her
leisure days. Mr. Piers had now fallen into
a habit of coming to the cottage regularly
once or twice a week. Nora had, long ago,
seen that he would have liked her to give
herself up, as formerly, to parish work, and
she had frankly told him it was impossible.

^^ One must do one's work," she had said,
in her old words. " I thought it rather hard
when I had to give up my old business,
which I had been trained to ; but now I
find my hands just as full as ever with other
things. Make any use you can of me as an
occasional help, but please remember I have
only odd hours to dispose of."

So the Vicar came to talk over various
aflFairs, and to get as much as he could of
the fruits of her experience. It was a very
odd friendship which was thus formed — one
which had scarcely anything at all to do
with personal qualities on either side, but
grew altogether out of a community of
interests. Personally, Mr. Piers still rather

AGAINST HER WILL. 240

preferred Mrs. Darcy to her daughter ; that
is to say, he held fast to his first admiration.
And Nora saw nothing whatever in Mr.
Piers which would have tempted her to wish
that he should find her attractive.

But there are always people who, seeing
an unmarried man and woman interested in
each other's doings, must needs begin to
talk of matrimony ; and, of all the match-
makers in the world (or, at any rate, match-
imaginers), there are none Hke the old
women of a country place. When half the
neighbourhood had made up its mind
what was going to happen, a thunderbolt
was suddenly flung at the feet of the un-
suspecting Vicar by his old enemy, Betty
Higgs.

" Well, sir," said she to him, one day,
taking her short black pipe out of her mouth,
and politely holding it behind her "you'll
excuse an old woman bein' curous, but
when is it going to be ? "

" What going to be?" said the Vicar.

" Lord love your reverence, the wedding,
of course."

250 AGAINST HER WILL.

"I know nothing of any wedding," he
rejoined, trying to think whether he had
published anybody's banns lately.

"Well now," Betty went on, "all the
parish do say that your reverence is going
to wed our Miss Nora, and I 'd like to know
when it's to be. She is a real beauty, is
our Miss Nora, and as good as she is
handsome. I never saw the man that
was good enough for her, not to my
thinking," she concluded, with a rather
contemptuous look at her visitor.

But he, poor man, was safe from her
contempt, in such depths of amazen^ent
and dismay that she might have talked for
ten minutes and he would not have heard
a word. He got away from her somehow,
and walked home in a state of the bitterest
humiliation. He had regarded himself as
being as incapable of marriage as of forgery.
If he had been told that his parishioners
spoke of him as a forger, he would not
have been more deeply wounded than he
was now.

This was the light in which it struck

AGAINST HER WILL, 251

him. All evening and night, this was the
way in which he thought of it ; it was not
until he sat over his breakfast next morning,
that Nora's concern with the matter entered
his mind. When he did think of her, he
got tip with a sudden exclamation of im-
patience; he saw at once, and truly, that,
if the report reached her, she would be
intensely annoyed by it.

It was horribly perplexing. What could
he do ? Certain it was that he could settle
to nothing at home, and that he felt
strongly disinclined to go among people
who might repeat old Betty's question.
At last he decided upon walking to Dean's
Hall. Mr. Norton was his most intimate
acquaintance in Woodside, and perhaps he
might find an opportunity of saying some-
thing to him which would help to stop the
gossip.

He was disappointed, on reaching Dean's
Hall, to find that Mr. Norton was from home
for the day ; and he was turning away from
the door when Mrs. Lansdowne came out
and stopped him.

252 AGAINST HER WILL.

"If you are not busy, Mr. Piers," she
said, "it would be so kind of you to come
in. I wanted particularly to see you."

He followed her to the parlour, where she
had been sitting alone, and found that she
wanted to see him about some school-
children in whom she was interested.
Their business was soon despatched; and
when it was over, she asked if she could
give any message for him to her brother,
who would be home that evening.

He said "No," and meant to go away
immediately ; but she, seeing that his mind
was full of some troublesome matter, be-
thought herself that possibly she might
serve as confessor just as well as anybody
else. By what degrees she got him to
speak he could never have told, but she
did ; and, before a quarter of an hour was
over, he had confided to her all the speeches
of old Betty, and all his horror in listening
to them.

"You will think me almost as bad as
Betty herself," Mrs. Lansdowne then said,
very coolly, "if I tell you that this is

AGAINST HER WILL. 253

by no means the first I have heard of the
matter."

" But it is too bad. It is most unjustifi-
able."

*^ Gossip always flourishes in a country
parish," she went on; "and, after all, this
is not such a very improbable piece of
gossip."

" But I have never had the least intention
of marrying," stammered the poor Vicar.
" I think a clergyman is much better with-
out a wife."

" Does not that depend a good deal upon
circumstances? You will own that there
are women who would be real helps to
clergymen who have country people to deal
with?"

" I am bound to own that such a woman
as Miss Darcy is as valuable as she is rare.
Her influence with the cottagers and with
the children is amazing ; and, if I have suc-
ceeded in making friends with them at all,
it is by her help. I am not ungrateful,
Mrs. Lansdowne ; but still, what a price this
is to pay ! "

2S4 AGAINST HER WILL,

It was rather to Mrs. Lansdowne's credit
that she kept her countenance in face of the
Vicar's comic distress.

"You must remember," she said, "that
the idea of marrying our dear Nora does not
strike us as such a terrible one. I wished
nothing better for my son."

Mr. Piers grew very red.

" I feel it as much, or almost as much, on
Miss Darcy's account as on my own," he
said; " and the question is how to stop it."

"I feel pretty sure," Mrs. Lansdowne
answered, "that she has heard nothing of it
yet. But (please forgive me for speaking
like an old friend) don't you think the old
women may be right — so far, at least, as
that it is the very best thing you can do ?"

" Oh dear, no," said the Vicar.

" Of course I haf e not the least idea what
Nora would say," Mrs. Lansdowne went on,
unheeding. "She is devoted to the place
and the people, and that would be a bribe to
her; and there is not a soul in the place
who would not be delighted to think of
keeping her here always. But still, if you

AGAINST HER WILL, 255

are determined against it, I will do what I
can to stop people's tongues."

" I really never was so annoyed by any-
thing," answered Mr. Piers, and soon after
left the house.

As he walked home, he seemed to himself
to have made matters worse. He began to
see that, if he did not wish the gossip to con-
tinue, he must entirely reject Nora's help
and counsel; and even supposing he had
felt himself independent of them, he could
not put a stop to them without being guilty
of the most apparent ingratitude and dis-
courtesy.

*^ Shall I get a curate ?" was the desperate
thought that suggested itself to him. But
he could not persuade himself that there was
work enough in the parish to employ two
men ; and, unless Miss Darcy would marry
the curate, that plan woxJd not help him
much.

He reached home, and, for some reason,
instead of going to his study, walked
straight to the drawing-room. All the fur-
niture there was new, and had a peculiarly

2S6 AGAINST HER WILL.

stiff and glazy look. The fire smouldered
sulkily ; the chairs seemed to defy anybody
to sit down on them; the books were
arranged on the tables with that dreary
orderliness dear to housemaids. The whole
place, once, so cheerful, was enough to
depress Mirth herself; and the Vicar, with
horror, found hipaself thinking, "A wife
would change all this."

He hurried to the study, and, after some
other sma,ll affairs, decided to begin his next
Sunday's sermon, that being a soothing
occupation. But the only text he could
think of was, — "He that is unmarried
careth for the things that belong to the
Lord, how he may please the Lord ; but he
that is married careth for the things that are
of the world, how he may please his wife."

"That will never do," said the Vicar,
shutting up his papers.

AGAINST HER WILL. 257

CHAPTER XVIII.

Mrs. Lansdowne had told Mr. Piers the
truth when she said that she had already-
heard some speech of his marriage. She
might have added that she and her sister
had contradicted the report with indignation,
not thinking him at all good enough for their
favourite. Second thoughts, however, had
represented to them that there were certain
decided advantages in the match ; in fact, if
Nora could like Mr. Piers well enough to
marry him, where would she have so much
prospect of a happy life as in her old home ?
It was these considerations which had made
Mrs. Lansdowne speak as she had done ; and
when the Vicar left her, she was not without
hope that her words would bear fruit.

VOL. I. s

258 AGAINST HER WILL.

Meanwhile, the cloud, which Bertie's long
absence had brought over Dean's Hall, did
not lighten. There had been a hope of his
bringing Phoebe down for Christmas, but it
was disappointed. One day, about the
middle of December, the two sisters drove to
the cottage, and, sending their pony-carriage
home, came in for a good chat.

It soon appeared that they had a special
object, and one much at heart, which was to
Tbeg Mrs. Darcy and Nora to spend Christmas
week with them.

^^ It is the first time since he was bori^"
Mrs. Lansdowne said, " that Bertie has not
been with me for Christmas. I don't know
what it will seem like."

^^ I never saw my brother so out of
spirits," added Miss Norton; "and Nora is
the only person the least likely to cheer
him up."

There was no resisting an invitation of
this kind ; and, accordingly, it was accepted.
Mrs. Darcy and Nora were to remove to
Dean's Hall on Christmas-eve, and to stay
here over New Year's Day.

AGAINST HER WILL. 259

Nora was heartily glad that it should be
settled so. She had been dreading the
effect on her mother's nerves — and a little
on herself, too — of this first Christmas, robbed
of the old brightness. The last one had
been so pre-eminently happy, so full of
satisfaction in the present and hope for the
future ! And the change that had come
between that time and this was so all-
pervading, that she snatched at any means
of putting aside and forgetting, if it might
be, her own individual circumstances and
feelings. She made the arrangements for
shutting up the cottage, therefore, with great
good will, and troubled herself little for the
moment with what was going on outside.

Not a hint had reached her of the report
which so disturbed the Vicar. He had
missed coming to them, as he now usually
did, one evening in the week; but she
supposed that the season had brought him,
as it had formerly brought her, a quantity of
additional work, and she had not, just lately,
visited any of the cottages where she would
certainly have been informed.

i

260 AGAINST HER WILL,

On the day appointed, Mrs. Darcy was
wrapped up carefully, and drawn, as of old,
by Joe (now in Mr. Norton's service), and,
escorted by Nora, made the short journey to
Dean's Hall.

How pleasant the change was to these
handsome and comfortable rooms ! Nora
could not help sighing as she looked round
her mother's bedroom, curtained, and cosy,
and all aglow with fire and candles, and
thought of the cramped cottage chamber she
had left. ^^And they are so immensely
rich ! " she said to herself, as she thought of
her cousins. ^^ Eleanor is but a little older
than I am. : I wonder if she loved her mother
as I do mine. At any rate, she could never
have known what it was to see her suffering
privations money would remove. Oh, I
begin to hate poverty ! "

She felt no hatred for anything, however,
but a great deal of affectionate enjoyment
when the business of getting settled was
over, and the whole party were assembled
round the parlour fire. A particularly
comfortable chair had been found for Mrs.

AGAINST HER WILL, 261

Darcv, close to the wide hearth. The
dainty old-fashioned tea-service was on one
of the quaint tables beside Mrs. Lansdowne ;
and opposite to Mrs. Darcy sat Mr. Norton,
delighted with liis guests, and ready to
pour out all the day's news for their enter-
tainment.

^^ How nice it is to be here!" said Nora,
involuntarily ; and the host and hostesses
thought they had never heard a more sensible
speech. She was happy ; not light-hearted
as she had been a year before, but happy
with a certain knowledge of good and evil,
and that conscious and intentional holding
fast of her happiness which has in it a silent
confession of pain and loss. She had never
seemed brighter or sweeter to the elder
people round her. And the twin sisters,
when they were alone, talked gravely over
the question whether she were not, indeed,
far too valuable a possession to be made over
to one so unappreciative as Mr. Piers.

Christmas Day came, and the whole party,
even Mrs. Darcy, went to church. More
than one of them thought of last year, sadly

262 AGAINST HER WILL.

enough. Bertie had been with them then.
Miss Norton's eyes were full of tears ; and
her ears were deaf to the sermon, as she
remembered how she had smiled to herself
then, to see Bertie watching Nora, as she
sat, radiant in her pretty violet and white
dress, in the Vicarage pew, now empty.
Nora was close at hand, indeed, but black
robed, and paler than she should have been.
And where was Bertie ?. " Poor boy ! " she
said to herself, with a sigh which was
almost an audible groan.

The Vicar's sermon, it must be owned, was
very poor indeed. The state of his mind
lately had almost taken away from him the
power of work. Though Nora knew nothing
of the cause, she felt the result, and could not
keep her attention alive. She thought of her
father, and then her thoughts also turned to
the absent Bertie. There they stayed, for
she was completely puzzled. Were things
going badly with her old playfellow ? If so,
in what way ? He had written to say that
ho would try to run down for New Year's
Day, but alone. ^^ Phoebe was afraid of the

AGAINST HER WILL. 263

cold journey." But Phoebe was by no means
delicate, and had not been tenderly brought
up ; the cold must be a mere excuse. Would
she not come to Wood side ? or would he not
bring her ? There was no quarrel between
her and her husband's family; for she had
written to them, for Christmas, letters which
were short, certainly, but otherwise faultless ;
and they had sent her, as Nora knew, valu-
able and carefully considered presents. Yet
something seemed to be wrong, and thoughts
of Bertie were not suited to brighten the
Christmas service.

Nora knew nothing of the Vicar's state of
mind; but, if she had done so, she must
needs have pitied him. From the day of his
conversation with Mrs. Lansdowno he had
never had an hour of perfect comfort. Out
of doors he felt as if everybody he met was
going to say to him, ^' When is it to be ? "
In-doors he was haunted by two conflicting
demons, one of whom whispered, '^ Think
of your high ideal, — hold fast your plan of
life " ; and the other, ^' She would help your
work, and brighten your home." For an

264 AGAINST HEB WILL.

easy-going man, who liked quiet, and was
unused to strong emotions, it was a wretched
life, and he felt that it must be made an
end of somehow.

The fact was, that unconsciously he was
drifting round to the point of view Mrs.
Lansdowne had suggested to him ; and a
second talk with her had given him a fresh
push in that direction. She had said nothing
new : but as he had come to her better
prepared for her suggestions, they had had a
greater and more immediate effect. At last
he gave way entirely, and on Christmas-eve,
in the morning, he walked up to Dean's Hall,
to tell her his decision, and ask her advice.

When he stammeringly informed her of
the victory won by the joint means of Betty
Higgs and herself, she felt for the moment a
strong misgiving. She had just discovered
that Nora was anxious, very anxious, ajbout
the future for her mother's sake. Nora had
not intended to betray herself in this matter,
but she had done so ; and Mrs. Lansdowne
now suddenly reflected, that perhaps, even if
the girl felt a total disinclination to marry the

AGAINST HER WILL. 265

Vicar, she miglit accept him for the sake of
Mrs. Darcy. " It would be dreadful," Mrs.
Lansdowne's conscience whispered her, ^^ if
I have helped to push on such a marriage
as that."

But it was too late to draw back ; and she
had much confidence in Nora's integrity.
Since the Vicar had decided to give her the
choice, why she must have it.

^^ I think you are quite right," she said.
^* And if you do marry her, I am certain you
will have no cause to repent it."

^^ I hope so," he said, doubtfully ; ^^ I hope
so, I am sure. The sooner it is settled the
better, certainly. She may say ^ No,' after
all."

It was difficult to know whether he hoped
or feared she would say ^^ No " ; but, at any
rate, there was no reason for putting off the
trial.

" You are coming to dine with us to-
night," said Mrs. Lansdowne ; ^^ will you
speak to her then ? "

" No, thank you," he said, nervously.
" No — I — I really should not know what to

266 AGAINST HER WILL,

say. It would be much easier if you would
be so good as to «peak to her first."

'^ Don't trust too much to me/' Mrs. Lans-
downe answered, half laughing. *^ I will, if
you like, go so far as to tell her you have
something particular to say to her: you must
do the rest yourself, really."

^^ But I should speak to Mrs. Darcy first,
should not I ? "

^^Yes, I think so. But I know she will
leave Nora free to do as she likes."

They settled finally that Christmas Day
should be allowed to pass, and that next day
Mr. Piers should call to see Mrs. Darcy,
whom Mrs. Lansdowne would prepare to
receive him. She also promised to give Nora a
hint, so that, if her mother approved, she might
be ready in turn to hear what he had to say.

It was on the evening of Christmas
Day that these two commissions were
fulfilled; and it would be hard to say
whether mother or daughter were the most
astonished at the revelation made to them.
They were in Mrs. Darcy 's room, which Nora
was preparing to leave for the night. When

AGAINST HER WILL, 267

Mrs. Lansdowne was gone, Nora bent over
her mother for her good-night kiss ; but Mrs.
Darcy caught her hand and held her fast.

" My child," she said, '^ tell me what I am
to say to him."

Nora turned away her face to hide the
trouble written on it.

*^ I cannot tell, mother. It is so sudden :
I must have time to think."

^^ Rather no than yes^ if there is a doubt,
Nora."

'^ I will tell you in the morning, Good-
nightj dearest. You like him, mother ? "

'^ Yes,, my child; but I have never thought
of him in this way. Good-night." .

Nora came from her room next morning
with a look that would have augured ill for
the Vicar if his had been, in any sense, a
love-suit. She had hardly slept ; she was
very pale and very silent. To the few
questions Mrs. Darcy asked she returned no
longer answers than were necessary, and
they went down to breakfast with the im-
portant question neither asked nor answered
at all.

263 AGAINST HER WILL.

Mr. Norton, as usual, left them as soon as-
breakfast was over. The ladies removed ta
their usual morning sitting-room, and directly
afterwards Mrs. Lansdowne and Miss Norton
started for a walk. Nora had seated herself
by the window, a piece of work in her hand,
at which she stitched feverishly. When
their friends were gone, she suddenly got
up, and standing behind her mother's chair
said, —

^^ Do not send him away, mother. When
you have told him that you approve, I will
do the rest."

She slipped from the room almost as she
said the last word, and Mrs. Darcy had na
time to think what to do. Before Nora had
reached the door of her own room, she heard
the Vicar s knock, and knew that he wa&
there to decide her fate.

END OF VOL. I.

B. J. FBANCIS AND CO.. TOOK'S COUBT AND WINE OFFICE OOUBT. E-O.

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